Justifications for Nationality Based Rights and Obligations

-- By CodyHuyan - 22 Apr 2024

Introduction

I am a citizen of California and smoke marijuana regularly (I don’t really). Recreational use is legal there. When I visit China, I don’t use any cannabis products because any use of marijuana is strictly prohibited. I don’t believe that smoking weed should be illegal, but I choose to follow Chinese law nonetheless when I travel there. Why do I need to or choose to obey Chinese law as a U.S. citizen?

It is necessary to address the need and choice questions separately. Host countries impose a legal obligation upon visiting foreigners to abide by domestic laws, but foreigners practically have a choice not to. Especially when there are no extradition agreements with the host country and the visitor is only present for a short timeframe, enforcement of domestic law can be difficult, creating opportunities for people to break the law while facing no consequences. Yet, even with lower deterrence effects, most people still choose to obey the law. The origin of such voluntariness to obey law that one doesn’t necessarily agrees with warrants an analysis separate from the theory through which a legal obligation is imposed.

Why are people obligated to obey laws of another country?

Another way to frame the need question is where does a country obtain the legitimacy and authority to impose and enforce their domestic laws on foreigners within its border? While I believe that the social contrarian theory adopted by many liberal theorists fail to address the choice question, it does provide an explanation for the source of authority of a country. Social contrarian theory purports that people obey the law because they implicitly agreed to a social contract to do so. Nationality is our acceptance of the social contract. With nationality comes the enjoyment of certain benefits, what we call rights, in exchange for forfeiting certain personal interests, which we name obligations. The ability to travel to other countries is one benefit that one’s nationality offers, although with varying levels of convenience. In exchange for such benefit, countries mutually agree to legal authority over each other’s visiting citizens. On an individual level, acceptance to the social contract of the hosting country effectuates through one’s obtainment of Visa and actual entry. Travelers enjoys hospitality, safety, and other resources from the hosting country. In exchange, they agree to abide by the domestic law and for host country’s authority to enforce the law.

Why do people choose to obey laws of another country?

Conclusion

You need a draft that is not more than 1,000 words. This is at least 8% too long.

It should not be hard to cut. When choosing to re-use prior work, you should have decided to rewrite it completely. This isn't a book report about Yael Tamir anymore. Your draft should frame a question sharply. From a lawyer's perspective, which is the one you now inhabit, this is an inquiry into the source of our obligation to obey law, and how "nationality" relates to it. Rather than being a discussion about social contractarianism and liberal theory, it asks why I obey Dutch law when I am in the Netherlands, even though I have a US passport and obey US law when I am at home. The answer is not that I belong to the Dutch when I am there, or that I have associated Dutch-ness, or that I am afraid of being sent to Dutch prison or being beaten by a Dutch policeman. But those might explain why I obey Chinese law in China, or why I broke Soviet law in the Soviet Union. You learned something once, and here we are using that learning in a new way another time. Let's try a draft that acknowledges more fully what is new.

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