§ 486. This “reality,” in general, where free will has _existence_, is the
_Law_ (Right),—the term being taken in a comprehensive sense not merely as
the limited juristic law, but as the actual body of all the conditions of
freedom. These conditions, in relation to the _subjective_ will, where
they, being universal, ought to have and can only have their existence,
are its _Duties_; whereas as its temper and habit they are _Manners_. What
is a right is also a duty, and what is a duty, is also a right. For a mode
of existence is a right, only as a consequence of the free substantial
will: and the same content of fact, when referred to the will
distinguished as subjective and individual, is a duty. It is the same
content which the subjective consciousness recognises as a duty, and
brings into existence in these several wills. The finitude of the
objective will thus creates the semblance of a distinction between rights
and duties.
In the phenomenal range right and duty are _correlata_, at least in the
sense that to a right on my part corresponds a duty in some one else. But,
in the light of the concept, my right to a thing is not merely possession,
but as possession by a _person_ it is _property_, or legal possession, and
it is a _duty_ to possess things as _property_, i.e. to be as a person.
Translated into the phenomenal relationship, viz. relation to another
person—this grows into the duty of some one _else_ to respect _my_ right.
In the morality of the conscience, duty in general is in me—a free
subject—at the same time a right of my subjective will or disposition. But
in this individualist moral sphere, there arises the division between what
is only inward purpose (disposition or intention), which only has its
being in me and is merely subjective duty, and the actualisation of that
purpose: and with this division a contingency and imperfection which makes
the inadequacy of mere individualistic morality. In social ethics these
two parts have reached their truth, their absolute unity; although even
right and duty return to one another and combine by means of certain
adjustments and under the guise of necessity. The rights of the father of
the family over its members are equally duties towards them; just as the
children’s duty of obedience is their right to be educated to the liberty
of manhood. The penal judicature of a government, its rights of
administration, &c., are no less its duties to punish, to administer, &c.;
as the services of the members of the State in dues, military services,
&c., are duties and yet their right to the protection of their private
property and of the general substantial life in which they have their
root. All the aims of society and the State are the private aim of the
individuals. But the set of adjustments, by which their duties come back
to them as the exercise and enjoyment of right, produces an appearance of
diversity: and this diversity is increased by the variety of shapes which