Sovereignty's Promise

Evan Fox-Decent, Sovereignty's Promise: The State as Fiduciary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).

40 Pages Posted: 10 Feb 2016 Last revised: 12 Feb 2016

See all articles by Evan Fox-Decent

Evan Fox-Decent

McGill University - Faculty of Law

Date Written: December 14, 2011

Abstract

This is the front matter and Prologue of the monograph "Sovereignty's Promise: The State as Fiduciary."

I argue that the state is a fiduciary of its people, and that this fiduciary relationship grounds the state's authority to announce and enforce law. The fiduciary state is a public agent of necessity charged with guaranteeing a regime of secure and equal freedom. Whereas the social contract tradition struggles to ground authority on consent, the fiduciary theory explains authority with reference to the state's fiduciary obligation to respect legal principles constitutive of the rule of law. This obligation arises from the state’s possession of morally and factually irresistible public powers.

The Prologue looks to Thomas Hobbes as an historical exemplar of the idea that legal order has a fiduciary constitution structured by legal principles.

Keywords: fiduciary, Hobbes, rule of law, administrative law, legal order

Suggested Citation

Fox-Decent, Evan, Sovereignty's Promise (December 14, 2011). Evan Fox-Decent, Sovereignty's Promise: The State as Fiduciary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011)., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2729412

Evan Fox-Decent (Contact Author)

McGill University - Faculty of Law ( email )

3644 Peel Street
Montreal H3A 1W9, Quebec H3A 1W9
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://www.mcgill.ca/law/about/profs/fox-decent-evan

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