Jural rights is a doctrine of Kentucky law that prevents the legislature (and presumably the judiciary as well) from eliminating common law causes of action that existed at the time the current Kentucky Constitution was instituted.
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Constitutional basis of the doctrine
The doctrine of jural rights is based on a concerted reading of the following sections of the Kentucky Constitution:
Application of the doctrine
The doctrine was announced in Ludwig v. Johnson, 49 S.W.2d 347 (Ky 1932). In Ludwig, a statute prohibiting a non-paying passenger from suing the operator for negligence was found unconstitutional. The doctrine has been upheld several times since then, but remains the subject of criticism that it is a judicial fiction.
The doctrine was reaffirmed in Williams v. Wilson, 972 S.W.2d 260 (Ky 1998), where the court invalidated a statute requiring a finding of intent for punitive damages to be available. The court reasoned that punitive damages were available for gross negligence in 1891 (when the Constitution took effect), and that the malice requirement of the statute in question effectively banned a cause of action based on negligence.