> These are not gotcha questions at all. I've long wanted a serious legal
> analysis of this rights issue by someone who knows these things.
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Try Morton Horwitz' 2nd volume of "The Transformation of American Law."
For an extremely rigorous analysis of rights, check "A Debate Over Rights" by Matthew Kramer, N.E. Simmonds and Hillel Steiner which compares Hohfeldian and non-Hohfeldian approaches to rights re individuals and corps/associations.
Have a browse on corporate law books at:
http://www.barristerbooks.com/