What is RECHT

Ger. Right; justice; equity; the whole body of law ; unwritten law ; law; also a right. There is much ambiguity in the use of this term, au ambiguity which it shares with the French “droit,” the Italian “diritto,” and the English “right.” On the one hand, the term “rccht” answers to the Roman “jus,” and thus indicates law in the abstract, consid- ered as the foundation of all rights, or the complex of underlying moral principles which impart the character of justice to all positive law , or give it an ethical content. Taken in this abstract sense, the term may be an adjective, in which case It is equivalent to the English “just,” or a noun, in which case it may be paraphrased by the expressions “justice,” “morality,” or “equity.” On the other hand, it serves to point out a right; that is, a power, privilege, faculty, or demand, inherent in one person, and incident upon another. In the latter signifi cation “recht” (or “droit,” or “diritto,” or “right”) is the correlative of “duty” or “ob- ligation.” In the former sense, it may be considered as opposed to wrong, injustice, or the absence of law. The word “rccht” has the further ambiguity that it is used in con- tradistinction to “gesetz,” as “jus” is opposed to “lex,” or the unwritten law to enacted law. See DROIT; Jus; RIGHT.