Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 June 2015
In this paper, I distinguish two views of collective rights, viz., rights of collective agents and rights to collective goods. My argument is that although both have a place in moral, political and legal argument, only the second can fulfil the political function generally assigned to collective rights, and that even it can do so only partially.
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7. I draw no distinction between duties and obligations. The definition provides an analysis of claim rights but can be extended in obvious ways to cover other forms of normative protection, such as immunities.
8. Waldron, Supra, note 2 at 185.
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10. This is an interesting case for Sumner’s theory, since it seems easier to give an account of the collective well-being of French Quebec than it is of its powers of collective choice. (The notion that the legislature of Quebec acts only for French Quebec is a nationalist conceit.)
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17. Ibid.
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