Obligations

Scott Veitch is Paul KC Chung Professor in Jurisprudence at the University of Hong Kong.

“This is an important book. It will allow the reader to rethink the dominant model of human rights and enable understandings of alternative complementary trajectories of obligations. An understanding of the universalism of obligations and the asymmetries and obediences that obligations create has the potential to better prioritise human and environmental needs, common goods, and solidarity.”Jane Richards, New Books Network (online)“[Veitch] wants us to return afresh to the notion of an obligation whether that be from a legal, political, or sociological perspective. He does this in under 120 pages, and he does it very well, lucidly and with learning.”Stephen Bogle, Jurisprudence: An International Journal of Legal and Political Thought“Scott Veitch’s book Obligations is a refreshing rejoinder to the hegemony of rights under liberal capitalism … The book is jam-packed with brilliant research and insights and, as such, it is a short but powerful read.”Stacy Douglas, Critical Legal Thinking (blog)“Veitch’s impressive capacity of condensation, its intellectual and historical breadth, and the clinical precision with which he dissects the subject-matter deserve high praise. His “new trajectory” is at once a retrieval of an overlooked genealogy, a critical diagnosis of the times, and the groundwork for its renewal.”Julen Etxabe, Critical Legal Thinking (blog)“Veitch’s work provides a thought-provoking “obligations critique” of the persistent patterns of modern legal normativity.”Jia Liu, Social & Legal Studies

• 1. The Priority of Obligations: Introductory Observations. 2. The Place of Obligations: Modern Antecedents. 3. Shifting Priorities: Into the Modern. 4. The Ecology of Obligations: Situating the Legal Bond. 5. Hybrids in Action: Three Contemporary Legal Formations. 6. Obligations, Needs, Solidarities: Old and New Trajectories.