Abstract
After defining Cosmopolitan Right as being limited to the conditions of "hospitality," Kant includes "Wirtbarkeit" in brackets, a word that connotes innkeeping. Moreover, significant similarities obtain between the relevant passages of the Perpetual Peace and those of the Digest of Justinian on the obligations of ships' masters, innkeepers, and stable keepers. Unlike for ordinary householders, hospitality for innkeepers is a legal obligation, not a matter of philanthropy: they have traditionally been deemed public officials with limited discretion to refuse travelers, and as fiduciaries of their guests strictly liable for losses to their property. This article attempts to explain Kant's concept of Cosmopolitan Right by analogy to the private law of innkeeping, and ultimately engages in the central philosophical debate about Cosmopolitan Right by accounting for Cosmopolitan Right solely from the "innate" right to freedom, rather than from "acquired" facts such as land or resource distributions or historical injustices.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 159-190 |
Number of pages | 32 |
Journal | Legal Theory |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Sept 2018 |