Individual and Group, Natural and Acquired Rights: On the Need for Unclear Distinctions

27 Pages Posted: 31 Aug 2009 Last revised: 26 Apr 2012

See all articles by Bruce P. Frohnen

Bruce P. Frohnen

Ohio Northern University College of Law

Date Written: 2005

Abstract

This article argues that scholars are drawing and enforcing analytical and practical distinctions between individual and group rights and between natural and acquired rights with excessive, unnatural, and therefore inaccurate clarity. The currently prevalent, overly analytic methodology rises from as it exacerbates the contemporary tendency to see individuals and groups, as well as nature and politics, as inherently strict and hostile dualities. Examining the historical development of rights, the author shows that neither duality held during the Middle Ages. In fact, the rights of individuals qua individuals grew out of the practice of group rights — for example those of medieval boroughs, in which the rights of the town to self government were largely bound up with the rights of various officers to exercise the powers of those offices. Moreover, the “natural” rights of individuals, most prominently to due process, are, in practice, an outgrowth of various rights acquired from the monarch through practical application of custom and legal form.

Suggested Citation

Frohnen, Bruce P., Individual and Group, Natural and Acquired Rights: On the Need for Unclear Distinctions (2005). Ave Maria Law Review, Vol. 3, p. 171, 2005, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1464455

Bruce P. Frohnen (Contact Author)

Ohio Northern University College of Law ( email )

525 South Main Street
Ada, OH 45810
United States
419-772-1950 (Phone)

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