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To have moral (= deontic, executive) authority is to have an office or position defined or constituted by certain responsibilities and rights -- namely, those involving making decisions that obligate others, at least prima facie, to comply with them, regardless of what their personal decisions about the matters would otherwise have been. In the nature of the case, the voice of moral authority is at least prima facie overriding for those subject to or obligated by the authority. Furthermore, the authority, or some other agency whose function it is, has the right and the responsibility to enforce [sic] compliance with its decisions. Such is the case with the parent, the teacher, the foreman, the policeman, the judge, the legislative body, the head of state, and so on.

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