noun
1.
a. : a claim recognized and delimited by law for the purpose of securing it
b. : the interest in a claim which is recognized by and protected by sanctions of law imposed by a state, which enables one to possess property or to engage in some transaction or course of conduct or to compel some other person to so engage or to refrain from some course of conduct under certain circumstances, and for the infringement of which claim the state provides a remedy in its courts of justice
2. : the aggregate of the capacities, powers, liberties, and privileges by which a claim is secured
3. : a capacity of asserting a legally recognized claim — compare legal duty
4. : a right cognizable in a common-law court as distinguished from a court having jurisdiction in equity