The Tracking Theory of Rights

This book advances a novel theory of rights – of the directionality of duties – namely, the tracking theory.

In debates over rights, two perennial theories have dominated: the interest theory and the will theory. At a very broad-brush level, the interest theory sees rights as having the function of protecting the interests of the right-holder, in some specified way, while the will theory locates that function in giving control over the correlative duty to the right-holder. Hybrid theorists, meanwhile, attempt to partake of the obvious virtues of each of these theories by finding an integral role for both the right-holder’s interests and their control, in an especial way to be delineated in the course of this book. This book articulates and defends my own hybrid theory of rights. It is the tracking theory of rights.

This book will be of interest to academics and advanced students in legal theory and philosophy.