The Duty to Let Others Do Their Duty

Abstract

We have no general duty to help others do their duty. But arguably we do, for a combination of agency-based and outcome-based reasons, have a general duty to let others do their duty. Our duty is derived from the other's duty, but it is none the worse for being so. It is best seen as a duty, rather than as the upshot of some right or power of the other that would preclude us from insisting that the others do their duty. Finally, our duty to let others do their duty is owed primarily to those toward to whom the others' duty is owed, rather than to those whom we should allow to do their duty. Show more