The nature, ground, and legal expression of a right to freedom of association

Ludwig, Kirk

The nature, ground, and legal expression of a right to freedom of association

Files

Societas WP35_Nature Ground Status_Kirk Ludwig.pdf(582.91 KB)

Published Version

Date

2025

Authors

Ludwig, Kirk

Publisher

School of Law, University College Cork

Abstract

What is a right to freedom of association? In asking this, I am not asking what the various legally codified rights regarding freedom of association are in one or another jurisdiction or what they may have in common. My project is not descriptive. That is, it is not an investigation into extant legal practices. 2 I intend to be asking a more general, extra-legal question. I am interested, specifically, in connection with thinking about freedom of association as a fundamental human value, in the grounding and logical form of a moral right to freedom of association. I take the content of the moral right to freedom of association to have some bearing on how we should think about designing a legal right to freedom of association – though, as I will argue, it is not entirely straightforward how to work out its implications. My method will be analytical. What are the elements that go into the concept of freedom of association? How do they interact? What is the source of the moral value of freedom of association? In accordance with this, I structure the investigation around three more specific interconnected questions.(1) What do we mean by freedom in this context? What is its structure and limits? (2) What kinds of association do we have in mind? (3) What can ground a moral right to freedom of association?

Keywords

Freedom of association , Right

Citation

Ludwig, K. (2025) 'The nature, ground, and legal expression of a right to freedom of association', Societās Working Paper 35/2025 (24pp). Cork: School of Law, University College Cork.