Corelative is the term adopted by Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld to describe the philosophical relationships between fundamental legal concepts in jurisprudence.

Hohfeldian analysis

Hohfeld was concerned that there was some ambiguity in the explanation of the similarities and differences between concepts in law. Hence, with the focus on the nature of rights, he proposed a system of analysis based on "jural corelatives" and "jural opposites". A corelative is where two concepts are logically consistent and the one necessarily implies the other. When two concepts are opposite, they cancel each other out.

Thus, if A has a right with regard to B, an analysis of their relationship from B's point of view must imply that B has a duty to allow A to exercise the right. To put it another way, B has no right to prevent A from exercising his or her right. For example, the owner of land may hold four distinct entitlements: rights, privileges, powers, and immunities. Hohfeld linked each entitlement to a corelative and its opposite:

References

Hohfeld, W. N. Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning, ed. by W.W. Cook (1919); reprint, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, (1964).

See also

• Civil rights

Law