Rights are basic building blocks of the contemporary state, yet their rigorous justification is difficult. This book provides a thorough analysis of this central topic, and challenges the orthodox view that rights are a type of property claim in one's body. Drawing on the tradition of the social contract as well as the wealth of recent work in political theory, Ingram conceives of rights as a type of political claim, and shows how they can be justified in a way particularly suited to the pluralistic nature of contemporary liberal society.