ABSTRACT
T. H. Green's theory of rights is set out in his posthumously published Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation. By social recognition, Green seemed to have in mind something like the following: an authoritative acknowledgment or affirmation within a society that a certain way of acting, or way of being treated, was desirable or should be permitted, together with appropriate steps taken to promote and maintain that way. Green makes two claims that concern people. One involves the concept of a right; the other specifies the feature which justifies the most important kind of right, that is, universal rights. The citizens or lifelong members of a given system of civil rights have pooled their efforts to achieve a common set of values or norms for conduct in their society, as given in the civil rights laws that constitute or are among the main rules in this particular system of rights.
