DUTY
A duty is a legal obligation owed by one person to another, the breach of which gives rise to liability. In Hohfeldian analysis, a duty is the correlative of a right: wherever one person has a right, another has a corresponding duty. Duties may be imposed by contract, tort law, statute, or equity. A fiduciary duty is among the most demanding — it requires the fiduciary to act solely in the interest of the beneficiary.
A duty is a legal obligation — something the law requires you to do or refrain from doing. Duties arise from contracts, statutes, relationships, and sometimes just from being in the world with other people. A duty is always owed to someone.
The law says you must. Or you must not. And someone can hold you to it.
CONNECTED DOES NOT MEAN IDENTICAL.
Obligation is the broader term. A duty is a specific legal obligation owed to an identifiable person or class.
Moral obligations may not be legally enforceable. A legal duty is enforceable in court. The two may overlap — but they are not the same.
A duty and a right are correlatives — wherever one exists, the other does too. But they belong to different parties. The duty-bearer must perform; the right-holder can demand performance. They are two sides of the same legal relationship.
A duty is the obligation. Liability is the consequence of breaching it. Having a duty does not mean you have breached it. Liability arises only when a duty is breached and the breach causes cognizable harm.
Sci-Finance analytical terminology. Not statutory or conventional legal terminology.
The duty-bearer (the person obligated) and the person to whom the duty is owed (the right-holder). A duty is always relational — it runs from one person to another. A duty owed to the public generally is different from a duty owed to a specific person. The identity of the right-holder determines who can enforce the duty.
Some duties arise from voluntary undertakings — a contract, a promise, an assumption of a fiduciary role. Others are imposed by law regardless of intent — the duty not to commit a tort, the duty of a parent to support a child, the duty of a trustee once they accept the role. The source of the duty determines whether intent is relevant.
Duties serve to protect the interests of the right-holder. A contractual duty protects the promisee's expectation interest. A tort duty protects the plaintiff's interest in bodily integrity, property, or economic interests. A fiduciary duty protects the beneficiary's interest in the fiduciary's loyalty and care. The purpose of the duty shapes its content and the remedy for its breach.
The subject matter of a duty is the specific act or omission required. A duty to pay money is different from a duty to perform a service. A duty of care requires reasonable conduct; a duty of loyalty requires undivided allegiance. The scope of the duty — what it requires, to whom it is owed, and when it arises — must be determined before asking whether it was breached.
Things placed near one another may have a meaningful relationship without becoming the same Thing.
A beneficiary near property is not necessarily its titleholder.
A trustee near a beneficiary is not necessarily acting in the beneficiary's capacity.
A document near an asset does not itself prove conveyance of that asset.
A person appearing beside an institution does not thereby acquire that institution's authority.
The same natural person may occupy more than one capacity. Authority must be traced to the capacity relevant to the particular act.
Promisor — person who has undertaken a contractual obligation
Contract; consideration; mutual assent
Perform the promised act; failure to perform is breach, giving rise to damages
Person in a position of trust and confidence
Fiduciary relationship (trust, agency, corporate office, partnership, or equity-recognized circumstance)
Act solely in the interest of the beneficiary; duties of loyalty, care, and impartiality; breach gives rise to equitable remedies including disgorgement and surcharge
Person who owes a duty of care to foreseeable plaintiffs
Common law negligence; statute; special relationship
Exercise reasonable care to avoid causing foreseeable harm; failure is negligence, giving rise to liability for damages
Do not stop because a document exists. Ask what legally or economically changed.
Before a duty arises: the potential duty-bearer has no legal obligation toward the potential right-holder. After a duty arises: the duty-bearer must perform or refrain from acting as required. Failure to perform is a breach. Breach, combined with causation and harm, gives rise to liability. The nature of the remedy depends on the source of the duty: contract breach gives rise to damages; tort breach gives rise to compensatory and sometimes punitive damages; fiduciary breach gives rise to equitable remedies including disgorgement of profits, surcharge, and removal.
Nathaniel is a financial advisor. He manages investment accounts for his clients. He owes each client a fiduciary duty — a duty of loyalty and a duty of care. He cannot put his own interests ahead of his clients'. He cannot recommend investments that benefit him at his clients' expense. He cannot fail to disclose conflicts of interest. If he does any of these things, he has breached his fiduciary duty. His clients can sue him for the losses caused by the breach — and may be able to recover the profits he made from the conflict, even if they suffered no loss. The duty ran from Nathaniel to each client individually. It was not a duty to the public generally.
This hypothetical illustrates the questions a reader should investigate. It does not provide individualized legal advice or jurisdiction-specific legal conclusions.
A duty is a legal obligation owed by one person to another, the breach of which gives rise to liability. In Hohfeldian analysis, a duty is the correlative of a right: wherever one person has a right, another has a corresponding duty. Duties may be imposed by contract, tort law, statute, or equity. A fiduciary duty is among the most demanding — it requires the fiduciary to act solely in the interest of the beneficiary.
Citations are provided for reference only. The Institute does not fabricate citations, cases, statutes, quotations, or URLs. If verified primary-source material has not been supplied, the entry shows SOURCE REVIEW PENDING.
Vel Xenon Legal Information Institute provides general legal information and educational material, not individualized legal advice. Law varies by jurisdiction and changes over time. Consult the underlying authorities and, when appropriate, a qualified professional for advice concerning a particular situation.