1. The conception of right- as referring to a corresponding
obligation which is the moral aspect of it- in the first place, has
regard only to the external and practical relation of one person to
another, in so far as they can have influence upon each other,
immediately or mediately, by their actions as facts. 2. In the
second place, the conception of right does not indicate the relation
of the action of an individual to the wish or the mere desire of
another, as in acts of benevolence or of unkindness, but only the
relation of his free action to the freedom of action of the other.
3. And, in the third place, in this reciprocal relation of voluntary
actions, the conception of right does not take into consideration
the matter of the matter of the act of will in so far as the end which
any one may have in view in willing it is concerned. In other words,
it is not asked in a question of right whether any one on buying goods
for his own business realizes a profit by the transaction or not;
but only the form of the transaction is taken into account, in
considering the relation of the mutual acts of will. Acts of will or
voluntary choice are thus regarded only in so far as they are free,
and as to whether the action of one can harmonize with the freedom
of another, according to a universal law.
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