Do all legal systems assume free-will?
?? Yes, I can’t imagine any legal system that allowed for action other than free will. Most systems allow for people not in control of their actions )through mental defect or sometimes exceptional situations), but overall, everyone has to be assumed to have free will or the system would collapse and no-one would be accountable for their actions.
The notion of free-will is dealt with only tangentially in common-law legal systems. It assumes that the actions of an individual (or any legal persona) are a product of free will. There are concepts such as ‘duress’ or ‘diminished responsibility’ in which the will of the person acting is over-ridden and therefore they are deemed not to be responsible for their actions.
