argue for a new conception of practical authority based on ananalysis of the relationship between authority and subject. Commands entail ademand for practical deference, which establishes a relationship of hierarchy,vulnerability, and responsibility that involves a variety of signals and commit-ments. In order for this relationship to be justified, the subject must be under apreexisting duty, the authority’s commands must take precedence over the sub-ject’s judgment regarding fulfillment of that duty, the authority must accept theposition and responsibilities of command, and the authority must be sufficientlytrustworthy relative to how vulnerable the subject makes herself by deferring.This results in an instrumentalist conception of practical authority that can befavorably compared to Joseph Raz’s influential service conception. The relationalconception’s main advantage is that it focuses on the authority as much as thesubject, requiring that the authority accept responsibility for the relationship andbe sufficiently trustworthy. This allows the relational conception to avoid prob-lems that the service conception faces and illuminates institutional auth

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• THE RELATIONAL CONCEPTION OF PRACTICALAUTHORITY