and substance analogous to those of the human individual, and also with representative interests as guardian of the interests of society generally, all the interests of the community as such. These interests form the field of international law, a part of constitutional and administrative law, as well as the law of public corporations.

22. Social interests.-Apart from those of the community as politically organized in the state, there are other social interests which the law recognizes and protects. Indeed, the primary interest for the protection of which the law originated was the interest in general security-the safety, peace, and order of the society. This was the primary, as indeed it is the ultimate end of the law: the assurance of the conditions of social progress. To attain this end experience has shown that individual interests must be recognized and secured, but after all only as means to an end which is larger than the protection of individual interests as such. Society is interested in the preservation and development of general morals, of social institutions, and of natural resources. The criminal law which protects this interest in the general security, is the earliest and most complete development of the legal protection of a social interest. All other recognition of such interests in the legal system is comparatively recent, and correspondingly undeveloped. Most of the legal rules designed for the furtherance of social interests exist at present only as elements limiting or qualifying individual interests, as is shown by eurrent classifications of legal rules. Thus the law of

nuisances is generally treated as a branch of the law of torts.

23. Balancing of interests.-The social interest is the chief incentive to the balancing of interests. Not all interests can be secured; it is therefore the task of law, by reason and experimentation, to work out that balancing of interests which will consort most fully with the ideal of justice held by the society of the period, and will most fully satisfy the socially valuable interests of the members of the community. Thus, for example, the social interest in the institution of marriage must be balanced against the individual interests of the parties to a marriage, in elaborating the law of divorce. The balancing of the interest of society in the health of its members against the individual interest in freedom of contract determines the law governing hours and conditions of labor.

24. The securing of interests-Legal rights and duties. Besides determining what interests shall be recognized by law, and within what limits a just balance of conflicting interests will confine this recognition, a legal system must also work out means for protecting and securing these interests. The AngloAmerican system in order to do so regulates human action in two ways. It lays duties on individuals to act or to abstain from acting in certain ways, and enforces this action or non-action by invoking the force of the state where necessary to secure obedience. It also confers advantages on individuals in the way of permission or assistance from the law to the realization of their interests.

Absolute

Duties are either absolute or relative. duties are those imposed by law to protect the social interest in the peace, order, and well-being of the community in general rather than to protect individual interests against infringement. Relative duties are those corresponding to a right conferred or recognized by law for the purpose of benefiting a particular individual. The same violation of duty by wrongful act or omission may infringe both social and individual interests, and give rise to a liability on the part of the wrongdoer which is both civil and criminal, violating as it does a duty corresponding to a right of a definite individual or individuals and a duty which has no corresponding right conferred by law in the interest of any particular individual. The rules of criminal law are rules imposing absolute duties and making them effective by prescribed punishments.

The advantages conferred by law on individuals are of three chief kinds, distinguishable as rights, powers, and privileges, although all three are often spoken of generally as rights. A legal right of one man in the strict sense of the word corresponds to a legal duty in another or in others. It is a capacity sanctioned by law in the former to cause or restrain certain action by the latter. Thus, if A has made a legal contract with B, he has a legal right to have B fulfill it, which the law will lend its aid to enforce either specifically or by way of compelling B to compensate A for non-performance. B's duty corresponds to A's right.

But the law may confer advantages on A to which

no corresponding duty exists. For example, it may allow A to bring an action against B to compel him to perform his contract. This so-called right of action corresponds to no duty in anyone else. It is properly a power conferred by law on A to enable him to realize his interest in the contract. Of the same sort of legal advantage are the power to make a will, the power to dispose of property, the power to appoint an agent. In essence these powers are legally conferred abilities to create or alter or destroy rights and duties either in oneself or in others; thus, when A exercises his power to dispose of property and sells it to B, he creates in B rights of ownership, duties corresponding to which are laid by law on the community of men in general.

A third type of legal rights of recognized advantage is the capacity to act without legal restraint or liability in ways that but for the exemption granted would constitute a violation of a legal duty. Such an advantage is spoken of as a privilege or liberty. Thus, in self-defense one is privileged to use force against another which but for the liberty of self-defense would be an infringement of his right to physical integrity. Again, if A has given Ba license to cross his field, the law recognizes in B a privilege to do that which without the license would be unlawful. A privilege differs from a right in that no duty in others corresponds to the privilege in its possessor. The license granted B imposes no duty on A. A can revoke it at any time. Its sole effect is to enable B to do what without it would be unlawful. Again, a privilege differs from a power

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in that the exercise of it cannot violate a legal duty of its possessor. The possessor of a legally recognized power may, by its exercise, violate a legal duty. For example, B may have engaged A to work in his store for a year. He has the power to discharge him without excuse in a month, and the discharge will be given legal effect. A is no longer B's employee, and cannot act as such. But the exercise of the power nevertheless violated a duty which B owed A under the contract, and B will be liable for this violation.

Of these three legally conferred advantages, rights are by far the most common and most important. It is with the protection of interests by means of rights and duties that law chiefly concerns itself.

25. The elements of rights and duties. Every right conferred by law is a right belonging to a person and operative against a person or persons. So, every duty imposed lays an obligation on a person or persons in favor of another person. The person for whose legal advantage the right is conferred or recognized is spoken of as the owner or subject of the right; the person on whom the duty is imposed, as the person obliged, or the subject of the duty.

This duty is an obligation to act or refrain from acting, which the owner of the right is entitled to exact from the subject of the duty. It constitutes the content of the right. Moreover, the act or abstention relates to some object, material or immaterial, in respect to which it exists-the subjectmatter of the interest to satisfy which the owner of the right exercises it. Thus, for example, if a man