According to this theory right are created and maintained by the state. The state formulates the enforces them and can restrict their scope. The theory further main’ that rights are not natural to man. The individual has no rights against state.
The theory thus explains that the state is the only source of right and outside the state an individual has no rights at all. Bentham, Ho and Austin are the main exponents of the theory. State creates righ Rights have no meaning unless these are recognized by state and info by law and its coercive force.
Changes in law produce changes in substance of law. Law is command of the state. This theory has the m of precision. We know precisely what rights citizens enjoy within a state.
Criticism:
This theory does not provide an adequate basis of right It might give precision but does not contribute to political philosophy might tell us the character of a particular state but it does not tell us what rights need recognition. This theory will lead to despotism of state tyranny of laws.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The state will become the judge of what rights should have. It will become the master rather than the servant or instrument of society. It does not provide a basis to know what right ought to be guaranteed. In fact, rights are not what the state grants what the man needs for his self-development and what the state should grant.
Rights are thus not the fiats of the state but provide a test on what . the state and its morality are to be judged. To the extent it maintains right needed for the development of personality of a citizen the state democratic.