4. The right to token: right erga omnes or right ad personam?
The nature of the right to a token is one of the key elements of its legal regime, since it defines remedies available, applicable provisions in bankruptcy proceedings, applicable connecting factors in conflicts of laws and other aspects of a legal regime.
Traditionally, from the period of Roman law, all civil rights were divided into rights in rem and rights ad personam. A right in rem is available against the world at large, i.e. it is valid against all persons generally (erga omnes). The right owner performs his right in rem by his own actions. No assistance from other persons is necessary.Thus,the essence of this right lies in the negative obligation of all other persons to refrain from interference in the enjoyment of that right. Therefore, any other person can violate such right.15 Taking into account the famous definition of privacy, rights in rem can be designated as a right to be left alone16 or the right to exclude others from one’s property.17 The most evident example of the right in rem is the ownership right. Third parties may never see the owner, hear about him, or even know if he has died and been replaced as owner by some other person. The only relationship to him is through the property, operating as some kind of mediator, in the sense that third parties may affect the owner only by acting towards his property in some way. The right holder is represented to them as an “owner” and his identity can remain completely obscure. Thus, no particular feature of an individual needs to be ascertained in order to comply with the passive obligation of non-interference. The right in rem is defined by reference to the existence and location of the thing itself and cannot survive the extinction of the thing.
