📝 Editorial Note: This post forms Part VIII of an eight-part scholarly series on “The System of Reciprocal Duties.” The series explores the philosophical foundations of rights, duties, autonomy, and legal relationships across private, social, and public spheres. This concluding part examines the limits of contractual freedom through the lens of self-regarding contracts, using The Merchant of Venice as a conceptual case study. 🔗 Index: Duties Towards Oneself in the System o

This article analyses the right of necessity through the Vertical Limit case, exploring self-determination, consent, and conflicts of duties in extreme life-and-death situations.

📝 Editorial Note: This article is part of an ongoing 8-part scholarly series titled “ The System of Reciprocal Duties ” , preceded by an introductory index post. The series explores how rights emerge from and operate through corresponding duties, drawing on Hohfeldian analysis and Kantian legal philosophy. This part examines self-regarding acts in the context of indirect harm , using helmet laws as a case study to analyse how individual autonomy may be limited when personal

This article examines conflictual jural relationships in which competing rights clash across private, social, and public spheres, offering a structured framework for resolving conflicts through duties, autonomy, and constitutional values.

This article examines self-regarding acts through the example of voluntary intoxication.

Join NLUO’s Constitutional Law Society for its 7th Double Credit Course on Law, Power & Privilege in Indian Constitutionalism. Online | Feb 1–22, 2026.

This article is Part III of the nine-part series “Jural Relationships in the System of Reciprocal Duties.”

This article is Part II of a nine-part series titled “Jural Relationships in the System of Reciprocal Duties.” While Part I laid the theoretical foundation by linking autonomy and duties towards oneself, this piece advances the discussion by examining non-conflictual jural relationships, particularly the absence of factual conflicts of rights through Hohfeld’s framework.

This article is Part I of a eight-part academic series titled “Jural Relationships in the System of Reciprocal Duties.” The series explores the philosophical and constitutional foundations of rights and duties, focusing on autonomy, will, and reciprocity in legal systems.