# Obligation An obligation is a duty, a binding commitment, a required action or a prohibition against taking an action. For instance, you can say it is an obligation to refrain from parking where you will block the entrance to the emergency room. There are several types of obligations. Avoiding blocking the emergency room entrance is a political obligation under the law and it's also a moral obligation under any reasonable sense of morality. Paying the money due in a contract is a civil obligation and going to jail or paying a fine if you commit a crime is a penal obligation. #### How is the concept of obligation relevant to the Network State? Citizens, whether they belong to a traditional state or an emerging Network State, will benefit from having rights and they will agree to submit to obligations in return for these rights and in order to create a viable social order where people contribute what is necessary and act in acceptable ways. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://gitbook.jur.io/wiki-network-state/dictionary/obligation.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.