Colonialism and rights supersession: A Kant-inspired perspective

JULIO MONTERO

Rectifying Historical Injustice: Debating the Supersession Thesis

Routledge

Lugar: New York; Año: 2023; p. 13 - 28

In this chapter I discuss the territorial and jurisdictional claims of Indigenous peoples in colonial societies. Using a Kant-inspired analytical framework, I argue that the principle of proximity forces them to accept the authority of their present government when its laws are minimally just and, consequently, to share their land with its present inhabitants. However, even if provisional and open to redistribution by public institutions, the exclusive property and territorial rights they once enjoyed leaves a moral reside that their co-citizens must urgently address. This grounds claims to recover control of at least a portion of their lands and to enjoy limited forms of communal government within the constraints of a libera constitution.