Negative right

Negative right

Negative rights are rights from certain things, usually freedoms from abuse or coercion by others, as opposed to positive rights which are the rights or guarantees to certain things.

One example of a negative right is the 1st Amendment of the consitution of the USA, which prevents free speech from being reduced by laws.

See negative liberty and positive right.

The concept of a positive right is very similar to Isaiah Berlin's concept of Positive Liberty (an idea he was strongly critical of).