Part I The Nature of Intangible Property, 3 Rights or Causes of Action

Abstract

This chapter examines the rights or causes of action. There are three different types of right of action: private law rights of action; public law rights of action, in the form of judicial review; and public law rights of action, in the form of prosecutions, particularly private prosecutions. While private law rights of action are choses in action, and assignable, public law rights of action, whether in the form of judicial review or prosecution, are not. The chapter then looks at the nature of a private law right of action, particularly the concept of a ‘cause of action’ and what happens to a cause of action when the claim it contains is either judicially determined or settled by compromise. It also considers the nature of a judgment and its transferability.