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n.A phrase used in the Constitution to refer to rights and protections held by all U.S. citizens by virtue of their citizenship, such as the right to travel from state to state and to be accorded the same rights granted to citizens of those states, the right to vote in federal elections, and the right to do business in various states.
The Essential Law Dictionary. — Sphinx Publishing, An imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. Amy Hackney Blackwell. 2008.
- privileges and immunities
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The phrase used in Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution describing rights that citizens have that derive from the existence of the federal government, and include but are not limited to the right to travel, the right to vote in federal elections, the right to discuss national legislation, and immunity of the citizens of any state to be discriminated against by the laws of another state.
Webster's New World Law Dictionary. Susan Ellis Wild. 2000.
- privileges and immunities
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Concepts contained in the U.S. Constitution that place the citizens of each state on an equal basis with citizens of other states in respect to advantages resulting from citizenship in those states and citizenship in the United States.
Dictionary from West's Encyclopedia of American Law. 2005.
- privileges and immunities
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Concepts contained in the U.S. Constitution that place the citizens of each state on an equal basis with citizens of other states in respect to advantages resulting from citizenship in those states and citizenship in the United States.
Short Dictionary of (mostly American) Legal Terms and Abbreviations.
- privileges and immunities
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n.the fundamental rights that people enjoy in free governments, protected by the U.S. Constitution in Article IV: "The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities in the several States," and specifically to be protected against state action by the Constitution's 14th Amendment (1868): "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." The definition of "privileges and immunities" was first spelled out by Supreme Court Justice Bushrod Washington in 1823: "protection by the government, with the right to acquire and possess property of every kind, and to pursue and obtain happiness and safety, subject, nevertheless, to such restraints as the government may prescribe for the general good of the whole." However, the exact nature of privileges and immunities which the state governments could limit has long been in dispute, with the U.S. Supreme Court gradually tipping toward protecting the individual rights of citizens against state statutes that might impinge on constitutional rights.
Law dictionary. EdwART. 2013.
