 As an analysis of the everyday concept of a right, Mill’s assertion would be weak. For example, for centuries many people have asserted that God has the right to command man; yet presumably no one who asserts such a right would commit to the idea that society ought to defend God in the possession of the power to command. To take another example, there seems nothing incoherent in the thought that individuals have a right not to be protected by society; yet this thought could not make sense on Mill’s characterization of what rights are. (On Mill, see also Hart 1982, 100–04.)