The oldest rights are generally the most respected - human rights, citizens rights. In turn, rights which are most socially accepted, will be codified first. If there is no general agreement, a competition of rights takes place, analogous to a free market. The rights which have most support, are most likely to get codified. After rights have been codified and accepted, their conservative effect begins.
Rights are formally status goods created by claim.
This is most obviously visible in the field of intellectual property rights. Because that concept is almost unchallenged, there are examples of commercial organisations established to claim rights - on behalf of people who did not know they had them. For instance, a newspaper prints a picture of a politician standing in front of a sculpture in a public building. It then receives a claim on behalf of the sculptor. The artist then receives an invitation to allow the company to act as agent - for a fee, of course.