1 AN HISTORIC IDEA

Talk of “rights” is notoriously ambiguous. Rights and Demands—henceforth R&D—focuses on a particular idea of a right.1 I call the corresponding rights “demand-rights”. Crucially, to have a demand-right to a particular action is to have the standing or authority to demand that action of the right's addressee.

Demand-rights are of clear practical utility. Your understanding that I have a given demand-right against you may be enough for you to act accordingly, without my needing to exercise that right.

It is clearly important to understand how we accrue demand-rights. That is the central task of the book.

中文翻译：

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权利和要求概要：基础调查

1 一个历史性的想法

众所周知，谈论“权利”是模棱两可的。权利和需求——此后称为研发——专注于权利的特定概念。1 我将相应的权利称为“需求权利”。至关重要的是，拥有对特定行为的要求权就是拥有要求权利接受者采取该行为的地位或权力。

需求权具有明显的实用性。你对我拥有针对你的给定请求权的理解可能足以让你采取相应的行动，而无需我行使该权利。

了解我们如何累积需求权显然很重要。这是本书的中心任务。