Kant distinguishes between ‘active’ and ‘passive’ citizens and holds that only the former are civilly self-sufficient and possess rights of political participation. Such rights are important, since for Kant state institutions are a necessary condition for individual freedom. Thus, only active citizens are entitled to contribute to a necessary condition for the freedom of each. I argue that Kant attributes civil self-sufficiency to those who are not under the authority of any private individual for their survival. This reading is more textually grounded than the dominant reading, which understands civil self-sufficiency in terms of economic relations alone. I further argue that Kant was interested in relations of authority because he was concerned to eliminate certain forms of corruption. This indicates that Kant’s contested distinction between active and passive citizens was a response to a key problem of any account of public lawgiving.

November 10, 1970 Docks — Dock work — Waterside manufacturers carrying on loading and unloading operations from and into ships — Port transport work — Labour scheme equating “port transport work” with “dock work” — “Port transport work” not to include work of “waterside manufacturers” except where work that of “a public wharfinger and/or master lighterman and/or master stevedore” — Whether work carried on within exception — Whether “dock work” — Docks and Harbours Act, 1966 (c.28), s.58(1) — Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) (Amendment) Order, 1967 (S.I.1967, No. 1252), Sch. 2.

Employment, unemployment, and inactivity need to be studied in real historical time, not in the context of theoretical, timeless, market-clearing equilibrium. Four data sets from the UK Census, the Labour Force Survey, the Department of Employment, and Social Security Statistics are used to show changes in employment, unemployment, inactivity, and permanent sickness between 1971 and 2001. The different sources confirm that unemployment becomes increasingly unreliable as a measure of labour market slack. In low-opportunity labour markets many potential workers are not part of the labour force; they are not looking for work or are classified as unemployed. Low levels of opportunity add to measured sickness. The general rule is the greater the degree of labour market slack, the less appropriate unemployment is as a measure of labour reserve.

February 27, 1973 Factory — Statutory duty — Fume — Inhalation of low concentrations of oxides of nitrogen over prolonged period — Chronic lung illness — Employers' constructive knowledge of health hazard — Medical and other publications — Whether sufficiently indicating health hazard from 1965 onwards — Factories Act, 1961 (9 & 10 Eliz. II, c. 34), s. 63 (1).

This paper discusses five attempts at justifying the provision of welfare on Kantian grounds. I argue that none of the five proposals is satisfactory. Each faces a serious challenge on textual or systematic grounds. The conclusion to draw from this is not that a Kantian cannot defend the provision of welfare. Rather, the conclusion to draw is simply that the task of defending the provision welfare on Kantian grounds is a difficult one, whose success we should not take for granted.