Odger's English Common Law

RIGHTS. 5
artificial bodies, which the State recognises as persons, such,
for instance, as corporations. Every violation of a right,
every neglect or breach of duty, is a wrong for which the
State, as a rule, provides a remedy. 1
Eights are of two classes. Some are absolute rights,
which every one within the realm possesses, be he prince
or pauper, British subject or alien. These may be called
public rights, as every member of the public possesses them. 2
Others are rights enjoyed only by individuals, who happen
to own certain property, to hold a certain office or to have
entered into a special contract, &c. These are called private
rights. They are of infinite variety ; but the great majority
of them relate to property. 'Eights of property are of four
kinds :
—
(i.) A right to the exclusive enjoyment of land, or of a
thing—a right to have it and use it and dispose of it as
one's own. This is ownership or dominion (jus in rem).
(ii.) A right to seize, or hold, or use, or enjoy, land or a
thing which belongs to another person (jus in re aliend).
(iii.) A right against a person merely ; a right to make
him hand over to you land or money or some thing (jus in
personam). 3
(iv.) There is a fourth class of rights which is growing
more and more important every day. 4
It includes the exclu-
sive right to manufacture and use a particular invention, the
exclusive right to make copies of a book, poem, play, picture
or design, and the exclusive right to attach to goods a
particular trade mark, or to prevent any one else from selling
goods under a name well known in the trade. All these acts
may be innocent in themselves, but they become wrongful
whenever the law has given to another person the sole right
to do these acts. Such rights are clearly a kind of property. 5
There are other rights known to the law, which are not
rights of property.
1 " Semble que toutes fois ou on a aucun tort ou damage, la ley done a luy un
remedy, et ceo per voye daccion." Year Book 12 Hen. VIII. (a.d. 1520), p. 3.
2 These are discussed in the next chapter.
3 These rights of property are discussed in Chapters III., IV. and V., post, pp.
17—38.
4 See Infringement of Patents, Copyrights, &c, post, pp. 597—622.
» Exchange Telegraph Co. v. Gregory $ Co., [1896] 1 Q. B. 147, 153.