In recent years a strand of thinking has developed in private law scholarship which has come to be known as 'rights' or 'rights-based' analysis. Rights analysis seeks to develop an understanding of private law obligations that is driven, primarily or exclusively, by the recognition of the rights we have against each other, rather than by other influences on private law, such as the pursuit of community welfare goals. Notions of rights are also assuming greater importance in private law in other respects. Human rights instruments are having an increasing influence on private law doctrines. And in the law of unjust enrichment, an important debate has recently begun on the relationship between restitution of rights and restitution of value.

This collection is a significant contribution to debate about the role of rights in private law. It includes essays by leading private law scholars addressing fundamental questions about the role of rights in private law as a whole and within particular areas of private law. The collection includes contributions by advocates and critics of rights-based approaches and provides a thorough and balanced analysis of the relationship between rights and private law.

1. Rights and Private Law
Donal Nolan and Andrew Robertson
2. Rights in Private Law
Peter Cane
3. Our Most Fundamental Rights
Allan Beever
4. Social Purposes, Fundamental Rights and the Judicial Development of Private Law
François du Bois
5. Rights and Other Things
Robert Stevens
6. Beyond 'Right' and 'Duty': Lundstedt's Theory of Obligations
TT Arvind
7. Of Rights Superstructural, Inchoate and Triangular: The Role of Rights in Blackstone's Commentaries
Helge Dedek
8. Rule-Based Rights and Court-Ordered Rights
Stephen A Smith
9. Rights and Responsibility in the Law of Torts
John CP Goldberg and Benjamin C Zipursky
10. Damages and Rights
Andrew Burrows
11. Explaining the Inexplicable? Four Manifestations of Abuse of Rights in English Law
JW Neyers
12. Rights and the Basis of Tort Law
Nicholas J McBride
13. Is the Role of Tort to Repair Wrongful Losses?
Gregory C Keating
14. The Edges of Tort Law's Rights
Roderick Bagshaw
15. Rights, Pluralism and the Duty of Care
Andrew Robertson
16. 'A Tort Against Land': Private Nuisance as a Property Tort
Donal Nolan
17. Private Nuisance Law: A Window on Substantive Justice
Richard W Wright
18. Rights and Wrongs: An Introduction to the Wrongful Interference Actions
Sarah Green
19. Misfeasance in a Public Office: A Justifiable Anomaly within the Rights-Based Approach?
Erika Chamberlain
20. Unjust Enrichment, Rights and Value
Ben McFarlane
21. Rights and Value in Rescission: Some Implications for Unjust Enrichment
Elise Bant

“...a very rich and rewarding collection of 21 high-quality essays... which makes an important contribution to private law scholarship.” –  Stephen Watterson, Restitution Law Review

“If one is interested in the latest in private law theory in the corrective justice vein, this book is a must ... Rights and Private Law is a powerful anthology about how rights-based thinking is influencing one prevalent strand of private law theory.” –  Erik S Knutsen, Canadian Business Law Journal

“...this is a stimulating collection of high quality work.” –  Sandy Steel, Cambridge Law Journal, Volume 73(2)