When consent doesn't work: a rights-based case for limits to consent’s capacity to legitimise

Hyams, K. (2011) When consent doesn't work: a rights-based case for limits to consent’s capacity to legitimise. Journal of Moral Philosophy, 8 (1). pp. 110-138. ISSN 1745-5243 doi: 10.1163/174552411X549417

Abstract/Summary

Consent's capacity to legitimise actions and claims is limited by conditions such as coercion, which render consent ineffective. A better understanding of the limits to consent's capacity to legitimise can shed light on a variety of applied debates, in political philosophy, bioethics, economics and law. I show that traditional paternalist explanations for limits to consent's capacity to legitimise cannot explain the central intuition that consent is often rendered ineffective when brought about by a rights violation or threatened rights violation. I argue that this intuition is an expression of the same principles of corrective justice that underlie norms of compensation and rectification. I show how these principles can explain and clarify core intuitions about conditions which render consent ineffective, including those concerned with the consenting agent's option set, his mental competence, and available information.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/29828
Identification Number/DOI	10.1163/174552411X549417
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Politics, Economics and International Relations > Politics and International Relations
Publisher	Brill
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