Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld (1879-1918)

Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld (1879-1918) is a person.

• See: Hohfeldian Analysis, Yale Law Journal, Jules Coleman, Jurist, Law Review, Rights, Liberty, Yale University.

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References

2024

• (Wikipedia, 2024) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Newcomb_Hohfeld Retrieved:2024-5-9.
  • Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld (August 9, 1879 October 21, 1918) was an American jurist. He was the author of the seminal Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning and Other Legal Essays (1919). During his brief life, he published only a handful of law review articles. After his death the material forming the basis of Fundamental Legal Conceptions was derived from two articles first published in the Yale Law Journal (1913) and (1917) that had been partially revised in anticipation of publication in longer form. Editorial work was undertaken to complete the revisions and the book was published with the inclusion of the manuscript notes that Hohfeld had left, plus seven other essays. The work remains a powerful contribution to modern understanding of the nature of rights and the implications of liberty. To reflect Hohfeld's continuing importance, a chair at Yale University is named after him. The chair is currently occupied by Gideon Yaffe as of 2019 and was last held by Jules Coleman, who retired in 2012.

• • NOTES:
    • Hohfeldian analysis identifies the precision issues in legal language, particularly around the term "right," which Hohfeld noticed was often used imprecisely by even the most respected jurists.
    • This analysis systematizes legal terms into eight distinct concepts organized into four pairs of jural opposites and correlatives, such as Right and Duty, Privilege and No-Right, Power and Disability, and Immunity and Liability, to clarify their use and interrelationships.
    • Hohfeld's method provides a structured approach to dissecting legal arguments, enhancing the clarity and consistency of legal reasoning by mapping out the matrix of legal relationships and their implications on individual liberties and duties.
    • Through Hohfeldian analysis, legal rights and duties are depicted as interrelated, ensuring that a right for one party correlates with a duty for another, which aids in understanding and applying legal principles more systematically.
    • The analysis not only aids legal professionals in understanding the legal framework but also helps in teaching complex legal concepts, as demonstrated by Hohfeld's influence on the American Law Institute's conceptualizations of property rights.

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