The essay aims at discussing the classifications of rights with a view to clarify the meaning of the general categories used to identify contested concepts such as right/liberty/freedom/fundamental right. The Author analyses the national and the international dimension of the protection of rights with a view of underlining the tensions and the interplay between the two levels and their consequences for the theory of rights. He then argues that contemporary scholarship needs to search for points of intersection between domestic constitutional law and public international law. Finally the Author identifies at least four junction points: 1. the qualification of a right as fundamental, 2. The recognition of group rights, 3. The codification of rights at the infra-State level, 4. The treatment of international law and its different sources in the domestic legal system.