ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the position of rights within the liberal conception of social order. Liberal idealism has a strong affinity with an 'Interest theory' of rights, for in placing rights at the centre of a theory of justice, legal doctrinal understandings are naturally viewed by the idealist as concerning the identification of 'interests'. Jurisprudential theories of rights have traditionally hinged upon two rival understandings of the nature of rights. One such theory, the Interest theory, holds that legal rights serve to protect or embody important interests of the right-holder. The other theory, the Will theory, claims that rights protect certain choices of the right-holder. The chapter seeks to connect questions relating to the nature of entitlement to a general understanding of the theoretical boundary between public and private law. The Will theorist thus regards rights as instruments of private law, to be distinguished from public law rules operating to protect interests in line with general social goals and policies.
