PAGE Wesson v. Washburn Iron Co. 296, Williams v. Spurr PAGE 53 Western Bank v. Addie 35, 66, 70 Western Union Tel. Co. v. Ca v. Brett v. Goit v. New Bedford 333, 334 v. Newberry 60 Wilton v. Webster. 276 Winsmore v. Greenbank Whalley v. Lancashire Ry. Co. 291 Winter v. Henn Winterbottom v. Derbe v. Wright 18, 116 286, 310 308 282, 292 229 378 v. Madison v. Sawyer 257 v. Witteman Lithographic Co. Whitehead v. Greetham Whiting v. Hill . Whitman Mining Co. v. Tritle 249 Whitney v. Allaire 70 Y. 245 259 Yarmouth v. France 357 27 Yates v. Lansing Wilder v. De Cou 49 GENERAL DOCTRINE. § 1. OF RIGHT AND PRIVILEGE: DOMAIN OFf Tort. THE sphere of action of a citizen, in his relation to the law, is found in his rights, privileges in the sense of permissions, and duties. What a citizen may lawfully do is determined by his legal rights and privileges; what he must do is determined by his legal duties. But these duties only correspond to the rights and privileges of others; hence his own rights and privileges, limited as they are by like rights and privileges in others, may be taken virtually to express the extent of his sphere of action as a citizen under law. It is of first importance, then, to get a clear conception of the meaning of right and privilege, as these terms are employed in the foregoing paragraph. The general distinction is this: In rights lie one's positive powers,1 as a possession in hand with which to set the law in motion against one's neighbor upon occasion; in other words, rights furnish the ground upon which one man may have an action against another. Privilege may indeed include right; but it very often imports something short of positive powers. It is then purely negative in character, not furnishing ground for suit. It still imports protection, but protection from an action by, not by way 1 The rights conferred upon corporations are indeed commonly called powers. Rights often appear under the name of powers. |