Single Idea 19881

[catalogued under 25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 2. The Law / a. Legal system]

Full Idea

The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom, for where there is no law there is no freedom.

Gist of Idea

The aim of law is not restraint, but to make freedom possible

Source

John Locke (Second Treatise of Government [1690], 057)

Book Reference

Locke,John: 'Two Treatises of Government' [Everyman 1988], p.143


A Reaction

This fits both the liberal and the communitarian view of the matter. Talk of 'freedom' is commonplace in England by this date, where it is hardly mention 60 years earler. John Lilburne almost single-handedly brought this about.