Description

The Centre for Legal Theory (CLT) was pleased to organise a book launch for CLT Exco Member, Assistant Professor Mark McBride, to celebrate the publication of his edited book entitled New Essays on the Nature of Rights on 20 September 2017.

The guest commentator, Professor Andrew Simester, provided his perspective on the book and raised some fascinating issues for the contributing authors, Professor James Penner, Professor Andrew Halpin and Assistant Professor Mark McBride’s responses.

The book was the product of a research project funded by the NUS Start-up Grant. The project culminated in a workshop held at the National University of Singapore.

As Alon Harel, Professor of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has written: ‘This important collection proceeds much beyond the famous 1998 A Debate About Rights which has set the stage for the debates concerning rights since then. It explores three aspects of rights. First, it re-examines the Hohfeldian classification and highlights its importance and relevance. Second, it investigates and develops the debates between the interest and the will theory. It includes essays by the main established proponents of these two positions as well as essays by newcomers to this field. The different essays in this part address each other in ways which sharpen and clarify the disagreements and provide new original arguments for the contending views. Last, it provides a new perspective on the debates concerning conflicts of rights and the ways to overcome them. This collection will no doubt dominate the future conceptual discussions concerning the nature of rights and their role in political theory.’