Legal Theory and Concepts
Introductory
Hohfeldian Incidents
A framework that separates legal relations into eight basic positions: claim-right, duty, privilege, no-right, power, liability, immunity, and disability.
Why It Matters
Hohfeldian analysis helps readers avoid treating every legal advantage as a generic right. It clarifies who owes a duty, who has liberty, who can alter legal relations, and who is protected from another person's legal power.
Selected Literature
A short list of directly relevant archive entries.
1913
Introductory
Some Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning
Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld
Yale Law Journal
1917
Introductory
Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning
Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld
Yale Law Journal
Related Cases
1910
Foundations of Law and Economics
Vincent v. Lake Erie Transportation Co.
109 Minn. 456, 124 N.W. 221 (1910)
Private necessity, compensation, and liability for intentional emergency use of another's property.
1928
Foundations of Law and Economics
Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.
248 N.Y. 339, 162 N.E. 99 (1928)
Duty, foreseeability, and the legal boundary placed on liability for an extended chain of accidental harm.
1980
Securities Regulation
Chiarella v. United States
445 U.S. 222 (1980)
Insider-trading liability and the duty to disclose or abstain.
1983
Securities Regulation
Dirks v. SEC
463 U.S. 646 (1983)
Tippee liability and the conditions under which insider-trading duties attach.