WIRTBARKEIT: COSMOPOLITAN RIGHT AND INNKEEPING

Aravind Ganesh*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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 languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)159-190
Number of pages32
JournalLegal Theory
Volume24
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2018

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