Section 38
Original German
38 In Beziehung auf die concrete Handlung und moralische und sittliche Verhältnisse, ist gegen deren weitern Inhalt das abstracte Recht nur eine Möglichkeit, die rechtliche Bestimmung daher nur eine Erlaubniß oder Befugniß. Die Nothwendigkeit dieses Rechts beschränkt sich aus demselben Grunde seiner Abstraction auf das Negative, die Persönlichkeit und das daraus Folgende nicht zu verletzen. Es gibt daher nur Rechtsverbote und die positive Form von Rechtsgeboten hat ihrem letzten Inhalte nach das Verbot zu Grunde liegen.
Musean translation
Machine-assisted Musean translation made directly from Hegel's German in the Berlin Nicolai first edition, dated 1821. Complete preface, introduction and sections 1–360, including the author's remarks and notes; no later Gans additions.
38 In relation to concrete action and to moral and ethical relations, abstract right, set against their richer content, is only a possibility; a determination of right is therefore only a permission or an entitlement. For the same reason—its abstraction—the necessity of this right is restricted to the negative: not to violate personality and what follows from it. There are therefore only prohibitions of right, and the positive form of commands of right has, in its ultimate content, a prohibition as its basis.
Plain English translation
Independent machine-assisted Plain English translation made directly from the German first-edition source, not from the Musean edition or an existing English translation. Complete preface, introduction and sections 1–360 with the author's remarks and notes.
38 Compared with the fuller content of concrete action and of moral and ethical relations, abstract right is only a possibility. A determination of right is therefore only a permission or authorization. For the same reason—its abstract character—the necessity of this right is limited to the negative requirement not to violate personality and what follows from it. There are therefore only legal prohibitions. Even commands expressed in a positive form ultimately rest on a prohibition.
About this section
Section 38 is part of Elements of the Philosophy of Right by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. This page sets the German original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is section 40 of 362 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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