ABSTRACT
The problem of legal or constitutional obligation may be approached in any of three ways. One approach is to seek a precise definition of the concept of obligation as John Ladd has done. Another approach is concerned with when should the law be obeyed, which James Luther Adams has followed. The third approach is concerned with what conditions are conducive to legal compliance. One important aspect of the behavioral movement in social science is to emphasize the observable. One can observe compliance, but one cannot directly observe a felt obligation. However, one can observe responses to attitudinal questions that may reveal the presence or absence of a felt obligation. In the context of constitutional obligation, law recipients or obligees can vary on such relevant characteristics as region, occupation, and political party. This chapter emphasizes that constitutional compliance or obligation can be viewed as either a dependent or an independent variable.
