Privilege: A privilege is permission - granted by a higher authority to carry out an activity. When gaining a privilege, one must often give up a natural right. Example: According to the U.S. Constitution, people have a right to travel public roads in their private vehicles. However, when they enter into a contract with the state to receive a drivers license, they exchange their constitutional right to travel for a state-granted privilege to drive, and are thus subject to the stipulations of the state (auto insurance, realm of integral registration, etc.).   Rights: Rights are natural states of being, whether recognized or unrecognized, that all humans inherently possess. (For example, the right to procreate or grow food is obvious, but not necessarily recognized by documentation.) Some rights are recognized in the U.S. Constitution, such as the right to travel. Rights are nullified when they are exchanged for privileges, such as when one enters into a contract with the state through a marriage or drivers license. When natural rights are exchanged for privileges granted from an outside source, one becomes a non-sovereign, or a subject of the authority who has given the privilege.   Civil Law: Civil law is the structure that organizes, controls, punishes and rewards individuals who have given up their rights in exchange for privileges.   Common Law: Common law, a law of sovereigns, is based on the idea of self-responsibility and natural rights. It is recognized under the Constitution as being the natural state of being. Only in the last century has common law been methodically exchanged for civil law.   Sovereignty:Sovereignty when one operates only under common law