College of William & Mary Law School William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository Faculty Publications Faculty and Deans 2002 Justice Unconceived: How Posterity Has Rights Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl William & Mary Law School,
[email protected] Repository Citation Bruhl, Aaron-Andrew P., "Justice Unconceived: How Posterity Has Rights" (2002). Faculty Publications. 1780. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs/1780 Copyright c 2002 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/facpubs Note Justice Unconceived: How Posterity Has Rights Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl* INTRODUCTION This Note advances a rights-oriented approach to our moral and legal relations with people who will exist long after we die. To under- stand the theoretical hurdles such an account must overcome, it is helpful to begin with an example.' Its facts are stylized, but it is not purely hypothetical. Suppose that we must choose one of two policies, Depletion or * J.D. candidate, Yale Law School; M.Phil., University of Cambridge, 2000. Ross Har- rison and Matthew H. Kramer gave me extremely helpful comments on an earlier version of this project, and the Journal's editors have also provided excellent suggestions. Kramer was especially generous with his time and encouragement, going far beyond what duty required. I bear responsibility for all errors. The reader should note that I typically use "persons" and "people" interchangeably. 1. This example, to which I shall refer a number of times, is adapted from DEREK PARFIT, REASONS AND PERSONS § 123 (1984). Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities [Vol.