‘Standard Jural Relations of Ownership’ : A Novel Theoretical Framework Informed by Wesley Hohfeld and Tony Honoré

Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld and Tony Honoré’s contributions are foundational to the ‘bundle of rights’ perception of property, the prevailing understanding of proprietary legal relationships in the common law legal tradition. Although Hohfeld and Honoré’s influential works have been conflated in this perception, a comprehensive analysis of how these frameworks interact and complement each other is missing. The article demonstrates that when Hohfeld and Honoré’s contributions are thoroughly and simultaneously analysed, they create a comprehensive theoretical framework for evaluating proprietary legal relationships that moves beyond a cluster of property rights (or proprietary right–duty jural relations). The article argues that, from a Hohfeldian and Honorian perspective, the ‘bundle of rights’ is instead a group of rights, privileges, powers and immunities with correlative duties, no-rights, liabilities and disabilities. The article reshapes the traditional view of the standard incidents of ownership in terms of jural relations in rem and jural relations in personam, offering a novel theoretical framework that refines and clarifies the ‘bundle of rights’ perception of property: the ‘standard jural relations of ownership’.

© Monash University Law Review 2023