An Introduction to the Value of Autonomy in Law

Autonomy has universal appeal, but vastly divergent applications in different legal systems and in different circumstances. Like all legal ideals, legal embodiments of the value of autonomy must seek generality in principle, to justify particularly in practice. When lawyers from different jurisdictions compare their differing doctrines, this comparison clarifies what all legal systems have in common, or ought to have in common. The value of autonomy can be discovered in the overlapping ideals of otherwise dissimilar legal systems, in which conceptions of autonomy shape the structures of relationships between individuals and their families, between families and the state, and between the state and international organizations. Concerns for autonomy determine how lawyers may defend their clients, and what clients can expect from their lawyers. Each of these circumstances reveals a different conception of autonomy, and the ultimate unity of the underlying concept that informs them all. Protecting autonomy is one of the central benefits of law.