Rights and obligations

What is a duty?

A duty is an action that you are required to perform by law or agreement.

The legislation stipulates a number of duties that you, as a resident of Denmark, are obliged to fulfill. obliged to comply.

Examples of duties in legislation include:

• Conscription (obligation to do military service)
• Parental responsibility
• Traffic Act (obligation to follow certain traffic rules)
• Criminal law (obligation to behave in a certain way)

In addition, an obligation can be imposed in a private agreement.

Examples of private duties include:

• Employment contract (obligation to perform a specific piece of work in return for payment)
• Lease agreement (obligation to pay rent vs. obligation to provide housing)

Duties are generally characterized by the fact that failure to comply with a duty (negligence) entails a consequence either in the form of criminal liability or liability for damages.

Obligations under the law will most often be unilateral in the sense that you must comply with them to avoid a consequence, while obligations in private relationships generally stem from a mutual agreement about performance and consideration, where both parties have obligations towards each other.

What is a right?

Rights are the opposite of duties. Rights can be established as duties by law or agreement.

The same applies to obligations, in that the law can establish a right for you, without any requirement for compensation. This can be, for example,

• The right to free education
• The right to free healthcare
• The right to a state pension

In other cases, the right may be subject to consideration or certain conditions being met.

• The right to drive a car after reaching a certain minimum age and passing a driving test
• The right to establish a business when certain conditions are met
• The right to vote in democratic elections once one has reached voting age

In private relationships, rights and obligations generally follow each other.

• If you are entitled to a salary from a workplace, you also have an obligation to perform an agreed piece of work.
• If you have the right to a rental property, you also have the obligation to pay rent.

This is the very general definition of the two concepts, which form the basis for large parts of the legislation and the legal system. However, if you delve into the concepts in concrete application, you can write very thick books about the rights and obligations of both the state, companies and citizens.