What are "all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto"?

Each of my diplomas says my degree is awarded "with all of its privileges and obligations" or something close to that. I know of neither an official codification nor a learned treatment of the privileges and obligations involved.

But, along with Thomas Aquinas, C. S. Lewis, and Mr. Spock, as opposed to David Hume and Cmdr. Data, I hold that values are logical. So I deduce that:

• The "privileges" include putting the degree on your curriculum vitae so you can get jobs requiring a degree;
• The obligations include honesty about the subject matter in which you are supposed to have some expertise.

I don't think any of the seven previous answers attempts to address the question from the body of the post:

How would one discover what the rights and privileges pertaining to a MA or PhD degree actually are?

The first thing to do would be to check the university's website for its regulations, which may go by different names. E.g. in Cambridge they are Statutes and Ordinances, and by reading them you can discover, for example, that both MAs and PhDs are members of the Senate (unless they have resigned or are suspended) and as such can vote in elections to the Chancellorship.

If you can't find the regulations, believe them incomplete, or need clarification on some point, then the next thing would be to write to the university. Again, the name of the body or title of the person equipped to answer the query probably varies: it would probably be reasonable to make an initial approach to the Alumni Office, the Dean's office, or the Vice-Chancellor's office, and to request that should their department not be the correct one that they point you in the right direction.

I would think the rights and privileges also includes the not necessarily actualized non-legal right/privilege to teach at universities and colleges (Sorry for the convoluted sentence -- I don't know how to simplify it).

Actualization of course requires being hired by some university and is not wholly exclusive to PhD and MA holders.