Should We Be Compelled to Have Identity Cards? Justifications for the Legal Enforcement of Obligations

Abstract

In many countries, there is a debate about whether compulsory identity card schemes are acceptable and justifiable. The UK government, for example, has now committed itself to introduce such a scheme. This case provides the main example in the article, although the argument is of general application. Justifying compulsion requires not only that there be a demonstrated and fundamental obligation upon residents in a country to identify themselves using a prescribed card, but that the duty should be so strong as to merit legal enforcement. The article considers, from first principles, various arguments for the existence of an obligation upon citizens to possess a standard state-issued form of identification and produce it when reasonably requested to do, and for the enforceability of such a duty. A distinctive argument is presented that there can be a valid but limited justification for such an obligation. However, this will not justify any compulsory identity card scheme. Many schemes will violate important additional side-constraints, and there are reasons to suspect that the British government's current proposals may do so. If the argument is accepted, then it would clarify exactly what the focus of debate about an identity card scheme should be. The argument also has wider implications for the scope of individual obligations.