droit
1
9.9
A legal right to land or taxes
- noun
- /drɔɪt/
- Archaic
:
derecho
- The court upheld her droit to claim inheritance after her father's passing.
Examples
-
He fought for the droit of all citizens to access public education.
-
In medieval France, the king granted his subjects the droit to gather firewood in the royal forest.
-
Under the empire of droit, any exercise of prudence is a threat to the authentic realization of rights.
Academic text (2002)
Synonyms
63
3.2
Something a person can do or have because the law allows it
is more formal and often historical in legal usage
Surface Forms
Etymology
Droit comes from the Latin word directus, which meant 'straight' or 'right'. Like English direct, this gives the image of something 'straight' and proper, so a droit was originally what was 'rightly' yours, a legal claim, and that is why droit means a legal 'right'.