What is the right objective?

We explain what the objective right is and what its characteristics are. In addition, examples and differences with subjective law.

1. What is the right objective?

Objective law is understood as the set of rules , ordinances and laws that prescribe an obligation , that is, that impose a legal conduct or resolution on a given situation or persons. They are the legal forms that impose on companies active obligations (obligation to do) or liabilities (obligation not to do). It is distinguished from subjective law.

Societies are governed by mandatory legal standards , which we know as laws . And the State is responsible for enforcing them , through a repressive apparatus that confers a monopoly on violence, that is, through law enforcement (police, army, etc.) and indoctrination institutions (propaganda, school, etc.)

2. Characteristics of the objective right

The objective right, as coercive right, that is, that generates obligations, can have two origins:

• The natural law , which is the set of rights derived from the human condition.
• The positive law , which responds instead to the specific legal order of a nation, printed in its magna Carta or its fundamental document.

On the other hand, the objective right may be of a written type (that included in laws, codes, regulations and national constitutions) or customary (the one restored by custom).

3. Examples of objective law

They are manifestations of the objective right:

• The provisions of the National Constitution of each country.
• The criminal, civil and public order codes that govern the daily conduct of citizens .
• The military laws that are imposed on a nation during a war event and that force the defense of the homeland.
• The regulations transit , fiscal responsibility, etc.

4. Objective law and subjective law

The fundamental difference between the objective right and the subjective right has to do with the character of its norms:

• The objective right governs the conduct of individuals through the imposition of obligations of some kind, which must be accepted by them and reinforced by the State (that is, they are coercive).
• The subjective right , on the other hand, governs the agreements between citizens, as stipulated by mutual consent agreements such as contracts , ie it must build from a legal rule.

This distinction can also be explained as follows: the objective law includes the legal norms that govern life in society ; while the subjective right includes the permits and functions derived from said objective norm.

For example, freedom of expression is a subjective right , since it has its limits and is exercised at the discretion of each person. For its part, the objective legal norm that establishes its limits, responsibilities and possible consequences of its abuse, is part of the set of obligations established in writing in a legal regulation.