by right

alternative by rights

1. idiomaticAccording to what is right, or what one is legally or morally entitled to; justly, properly, rightfully.

   The post of vice-president should, by right, have been given to John.

   5 more examples

   Whiche praise, with the honour thereunto due, as inheritaunce discendeth by righte unto his most noble sonne, our moste dere soueraigne lorde that nowe presently raigneth. For, as Tulli [i.e., Marcus Tullius Cicero] saithe, the best inheritance that the fathers leue to their children, excellynge all other patrimonie, is the glorie or praise of vertue and noble actis.

   1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of the Fifthe Branche, Called Circumspection, Shewed in Reprinse”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC, 1st book, page 104

   A huſband and a ſon thou ovveſt to me, / And thou a kingdome, all of you allegeance: / The ſorrovv that I haue by right is yours, / And all the pleaſures you vſurpe are mine.

   c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], signature C, verso

   Ovve not all Creatures by juſt right to thee / Duty and Service, nor to ſtay till bid, / But tender all their povver?

   1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 45, lines 325–327

   [T]all and stately men, and fair ladies, worthy of the days when the gentry of England were by due right the leaders of the people, by personal prowess and beauty, as well as by intellect and education.

   1855, Charles Kingsley, “How Amyas Came Home the First Time”, in Westward Ho!: Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, […], volume I, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 32

   Well, whether the gentlemen really do deprive us of any little matters which ought to be ours by rights, I cannot say for certain; but the opinion of the old ones is they do.

   1863 October 24, Charles Dickens, “Titbull’s Alms-houses”, in The Uncommercial Traveller, new edition, London: Chapman & Hall, […], published 1866, →OCLC, page 192, column 2

   Synonyms: fairly, in fairness, in justice

2. idiomaticobsoleteIn reality; correctly, to tell the truth, truthfully.

   1 more example

   And ſome [fowl], becauſe the light doth them offend, / Neuer appeare, but in the darke, or night. / Other reioyce, to ſe the fire ſo bright / And wene to play in it, as they pretend: / Alas, of that ſort may I be, by right. / For to withſtand her loke I am not able: / Yet can I not hide me in no dark place: […]

   a. 1543 (date written), [Thomas Wyatt], “How the Louer Perisheth in His Delight, as the Flie in the Fire”, in Songes and Sonettes, London: […] Richard Tottel, published 10 August 1557 (Gregorian calendar), →OCLC, folio 21, verso