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# Casting the Light of the Theory of Opposition onto Hohfeld's Fundamental Legal Concepts

## Details

**Authors** Lima, João Alberto de Oliveira and Griffo, Cristine and Almeida, João Paulo A. and Guizzardi, Giancarlo and Aranha, Marcio Iorio

**Year** 2021

**Publisher** Legal Theory

**Kind of work** article

**Discipline** Law & Jurisprudence

**Secondary disciplines** Logic, Philosophy

**Applied** false

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352325221000070) 
10.1017/S1352325221000070

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

To analyze Hohfeld's eight fundamental legal concepts through the theory of opposition and to extend earlier hexagon-based accounts to incomplete legal systems that tolerate conflicting positions.

### Who or what was studied (sample)

Not applicable (conceptual and formal analysis).

### How they did it (methods)

Formal analysis using the theory of opposition, comparing deontic hexagon accounts of Hohfeld's concepts with projections of a three-dimensional logical cube.

### What they found (results)

The authors show that the hexagons used for Hohfeld's concepts are selected projections of a logical cube, which accommodates incomplete legal systems and distinguishes strong liberty from weak permission. They report that liberty is a non-derived position under a weak-hexagon reading, that a complete conflict-tolerant system leaves only contradictory oppositions, and that an incomplete conflict-tolerant system supports a trichotomy and a strong hexagon. They criticize Hurd and Moore's deontic hexagon as structurally redundant and propose a parallel hexagon for constitutive norms and power positions.

## Commentary

### In short

The paper recasts Hohfeld's eight legal concepts as a structure of oppositions and correlations, showing how the standard hexagon models are projections of a richer logical cube that can handle incomplete and conflicting legal systems.

### Response

Hohfeld's scheme is built from jural opposites and correlatives, which maps onto distinctions (what a position is against what it is not) and relationships (the correlative pairing of one party's position with another's). The authors' formal treatment makes both explicit. The fit is partial: the paper is about logical oppositions among concepts, and the perspective of right-holder versus counterparty is not treated as a pattern in its own right. This record rests on the publisher page, which was read in part.

**Patterns it shows** D, R

Formal proof or model

**Added** 2026-10-14

**How to cite this** Lima, João Alberto de Oliveira and Griffo, Cristine and Almeida, João Paulo A. and Guizzardi, Giancarlo and Aranha, Marcio Iorio (2021). Casting the Light of the Theory of Opposition onto Hohfeld's Fundamental Legal Concepts. Legal Theory.