Some
philosophers and
political scientists make a distinction between
claim rights and
liberty rights. A
claim right is a
right which entails responsibilities, duties, or obligations on other parties regarding the right-holder. In contrast, a
liberty right is a right which does not entail obligations on other parties, but rather only freedom or permission for the right-holder. The distinction between these two senses of "rights" originates in American jurist
Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld's analysis thereof in his seminal work
Fundamental Legal Conceptions, As Applied in Judicial Reasoning and Other Legal Essays.