Wrongs and Wrongings: Bipolar Normativity and the Criminal Law

Abstract A standard view links private law to interpersonal obligations owed to others (bipolar obligations), while viewing criminal law as linked to obligations that are simply required, prohibited, or at most, owed to the state (monadic obligations). This paper interrogates the place of bipolar obligations in criminal law. It proposes a hybrid model, defending the primacy of the monadic wrong while making space for the relevance of bipolar wronging in criminal law.