The True Nature of Moral Rights

After reading Chaper 1 and reading some of my classmates blogs I feel that a major issue that needs some attention is the nature of moral rights. Unlike legal rights, moral rights are not written down anywhere and are not intrinsically known. One may be tempted to ask if we even have objective moral rights, and if so what are they and how do we know this? To complacate the matters further, moral rights may have a subjective nature i.e. moral rights are created by individuals and vary depending on the individual.

Understanding the nature of moral rights has a huge significance in the legal world as well. As Wellman writes on page 5 "the moral and the legal, go hand in hand, for moral reformers often demand the introduction of some new legal right as necessary in order to protect some alleged moral right". It is my understanding thus far, that legal rights are in essence alleged moral rights written into enforceable laws. The concept makes sense, we need a system of punishing those who break our moral rights (assuming we have any).

One question that really stuck with me from chapter 1 was on page 7 asking " is the recent proliferation of rights moral progress or empty and sometimes dangerous rhetoric?". I read this question as asking what the nature of legal rights are. Do legal rights make progress in enforceing our moral rights (again assuming we have any) or are they a means for some other less worthy purpose? I need to learn more on the subject before I give a verdict personally.