 Mill’s statement is better seen not as an analysis of the everyday concept, but as a stipulative definition of the term “right.” Mill stipulates this particular definition because the idea of “those possessive relations that are valuable enough that it is worthwhile for society to institute sanctions to protect them” is an idea that works well within his larger utilitarian theory. So where Mill’s statement departs from the common understanding of rights, we should charitably read Mill as prescribing, instead of describing, usage. Many authors’ pronouncements about rights are charitably interpreted as these kinds of exercises in stipulation, rather than as attempts to analyze the ordinary concept of rights.