Abstract

Do people who are not members of a certain country have the duty to obey that country’s immigration law as law? The answer is no if we take seriously John Simmons’ particularity requirement, under which only members of a state have the general duty to obey its law. I argue in this chapter that the particularity requirement for political obligation should be rejected for a number of reasons. While this opens up the possibility of nonmembers having the duty to obey the law of the countries of which they are not members, it also means that an account of the duty to obey the law will have to account for such duty on the part of both members and nonmembers, and the exclusion by membership will have to be justified to those who are excluded as members. I suggest that the natural duty of justice will do the job. The implication of this natural duty account of political obligations for exclusion by membership and immigration law is explored.