Liberty: Definition, Features, Types and Essential Safeguards of Liberty

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Liberty: Definition, Features, Types and Essential Safeguards of Liberty!

Of all the rights which are considered fundamental for the development of the personality of the

individual, the right to liberty or freedom happens to be most respected and valued. In fact

without liberty, i.e. without the freedom to enjoy one’s rights, there can be no real right available

to the people. Liberty, as such, is the most cherished and loved right of the people.

I. Liberty: Meaning:

The word “Liberty” stands derived from the Latin word ‘Liber” which means ‘free’. In this sense

liberty means freedom from restraints and the freedom to act as one likes. However, in a civil

society such a meaning of Liberty is taken to be negative and harmful.

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It is only in a jungle that freedom from restraints is available to animals. In a civil society no

person can be really permitted to act without restraints. Hence, Liberty is taken to mean the

absence of not all restraints but only those restraints which are held to be irrational.

Liberty is usually defined in two ways: Negative Liberty & Positive Liberty:

(A) Negative Liberty:

In its negative sense, Liberty is taken to mean an absence of restraints. It means the freedom to

act is any way. In this form liberty becomes a license. Such a meaning of liberty can never be

accepted in a civil society. In contemporary times, Negative conception of liberty stands

rejected.
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(B) Positive Liberty:

In its positive sense, Liberty is taken to mean freedom under rational and logical i.e. restraints

which are rational and have stood the test of time. It means liberty under the rational and

necessary restraints imposed by law. These restraints are considered essential for ensuring the

enjoyment of liberty by all the people. In a civil society only positive liberty can be available to

the people.

Positive Liberty means two important things:

1. Liberty is not the absence of restraints; it is the substitution of irrational restraints by rational

ones. Liberty means absence of only irrational and arbitrary restraints and not all restraints.

2. Liberty means equal and adequate opportunities for all to enjoy their rights.

II. Liberty: Definition:

(1) “Liberty is the freedom of individual to express, without external hindrances, his

personality.” -G.D.H Cole

(2) “Freedom is not the absence of all restraints but rather the substitution of rational ones for

the irrational.” -Mckechnie

(3) “Liberty is the existences of those conditions of social life without which no one can in

general be at his best self.” “Liberty is the eager maintenance of that atmosphere in which men

have the opportunities to be their best-selves.” -Laski

Liberty is the most essential condition for the enjoyment of rights. It is not the absence of

restraints. It is the positive condition for the enjoyment of rights. It admits the presence of such

rational restraints as satisfy the test of historical experience and reason.

III. Features/Nature of Liberty:

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(i) Liberty does not mean the absence of all restraints

(ii) Liberty admits the presence of rational restraints and the absence of irrational restraints.

(iii) Liberty postulates the existence of such conditions as can enable the people to enjoy their

rights and develop their personalities.

(iv) Liberty is not a license to do anything and everything. It means the freedom to do only those

things which are considered worth-doing or worth-enjoying.

(v) Liberty is possible only in a civil society and not in a state of nature or a ‘state of jungle’. State

of anarchy can never be a state, of Liberty.

(vi) Liberty is for all. Liberty means the presence of adequate opportunities for all as can enable

them to use their rights.

(vii) In society law is an essential condition of liberty. Law maintains conditions which are

essential for the enjoyment of Liberty by all the people of the state.

(viii) Liberty the most fundamental of all the rights. It is the condition and the most essential

right of the people. Liberty enjoys priority next only to the right to life.

In contemporary times, the positive view of liberty stands fully and universally recognized as the

real, accepted, and really productive view of Liberty.

IV. Types of Liberty:

(1) Natural Liberty:

Traditionally the concept of natural liberty has been very popular. Natural liberty is taken to

mean the enjoyment of unrestrained natural freedom. It is justified on the ground that since

man is born free, he is to enjoy freedom as he wills. All restraints negate his freedom.

The social contractual lists (Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau) championed the cause of natural

liberty. Rousseau became famous for his words: “Man is born free, but is in chains everywhere.”

It is popularly believed that man has inherited the right to liberty from nature. Natural reason is

the basis of liberty.

However, the concept of natural liberty is now considered to be an imaginary one. There can be

no real freedom in a state of nature or a ‘jungle society’. Unrestrained freedom can create

anarchy. It is only in an orderly society characterised by essential restraints based on laws and

rules that real liberty can be possible. Natural liberty can lead to a living based on the evil

principle of ‘might is right’ or the ‘rule of muscle power.’

(2) Civil Liberty:

The liberty which each individual enjoys as a member of the society is called civil liberty. It is

equally available to all the individuals. All enjoy equal freedom and rights in society. Civil liberty

is not unrestrained liberty. It is enjoyed only under some restrictions (Laws and Rules) imposed

by the state and society. Civil Liberty is the very opposite of Natural liberty. Whereas Natural

Liberty denounces the presence of restraints of any kind, Civil Liberty accepts the presence of

some rational restraints imposed by the State and Society.

Further, Civil Liberty has two features:

(i) State guarantees Civil Liberty:

Civil liberty means liberty under law. Law creates the conditions necessary for the enjoyment of

liberty. However, it refrains from creating obstacles in the way of enjoyment of liberty by the

people. It protects liberty from such obstacles and actions of other men and organisations as can
limit the equal liberty of all. The Laws of State imposes such reasonable restraints as are deemed

necessary for the enjoyment of liberty by the people.

(ii) Civil liberty also stands for the protection of Rights and Freedom from undue

interferences:

Civil liberty involves the concept of limiting the possibilities for violation of the rights of the

people by the government. This is ensured by granting and guaranteeing the fundamental rights

of the people. It also stands for providing constitutional and judicial protection to rights and

liberty of the people.

(3) Political Liberty:

Good and adequate opportunities for using political rights by the people are defined as political

liberty. When the people have the freedom of participation in the political process, it is held that

they enjoy political liberty.

Political of liberty involves the freedom to exercise the right to vote, right to contest elections,

right to hold public office, right to criticise and oppose the policies of the government, right to

form political parties, interest groups and pressure groups, and the right to change the

government through constitutional means.

Laski observes “Political liberty means the power to be active in the affairs of the state.” Such a

liberty is possible only in a democracy. The real exercise of political rights by the people is a sure

sign of the presence of political liberty and democracy.

(4) Individual Liberty/ Personal Liberty:

Individual liberty means the freedom to pursue one’s desires and interests as a person, but

which do not clash with the interests or desires of others. The freedom of speech and expression,

freedom of residence, freedom of movement, freedom of conscience, freedom of tastes and

pursuits, freedom to choose any profession or trade or occupation, the freedom to enjoy the
fruits of one’s labour, the right to personal property, the freedom to profess or not to profess any

religion, and freedom to accept or not to accept any ideology, all fall under the category of

individual freedom. However, all these freedoms are to be exercised in a way as does not hinder

the equal freedom of others as well as does not violate public order, health and morality.

(5) Economic Liberty:

Laski defines economic liberty as freedom from the wants of tomorrow and availability of

adequate opportunities for earning the livelihood. It stands for freedom from poverty,

unemployment and the ability to enjoy at least three basic minimum needs — food, clothing and

shelter. Laski writes, “Economic Liberty means security and opportunity to find reasonable

significance in the earning of one’s daily bread”.

Economic Liberty can be enjoyed only when there is freedom from hunger, starvation,

destitution and unemployment. Positively, it means the availability of the right to work and

adequate opportunities for earning ones livelihood. Without fair economic liberty, political

liberty becomes meaningless. When the people are not free from the fear of hunger, starvation

and destitution they can never think of enjoying their rights and freedoms.

The grant of economic liberty to the people demands the grant of right to work, right to

reasonable wages, adequate opportunities for livelihood, right to rest and leisure, and right to

economic security in the old age.

(6) National Liberty:

National liberty is another name for independence of the nation.

It means complete freedom of the people of each state:

(i) To have a constitution of their own,

(ii) To freely organise their own government,

(iii) To freely adopt their policies and programmes,

(iv) To pursue independence in relations with all countries of the world, and

(v) Freedom from external control.

(7) Religious Liberty:

It means the freedom to profess or not to profess any religion. It means the freedom of faith and

worship and non-intervention of State in religious affairs of the people. It also means equal

status of all religions to freely carry out their activities in society. Secularism demands such a

religious freedom.

(8) Moral Liberty:

It means the freedom to act according to one’s conscience. It stands for the liberty to work for

securing moral self-perfection. Freedom to pursue moral values is moral freedom.

Thus, when one demands the right to liberty one really demands liberty in all these forms.

V. Some Essential Safeguards of Liberty:

1. Love for Liberty:

Only when people are strongly in love with their liberty, that liberty can be really safeguarded.

Liberty needs continuous attempts on the part of the people to defend their liberty.

2. Eternal Vigilance:

The commitment of the people to defend their liberty and their full alertness against any

encroachment of their liberty is the second most important safeguard of liberty. “Eternal

vigilance is the price of liberty.”

3. Grant of Equal Rights to All:

For safeguarding Liberty, it is essential that there should be no class of privileged persons in

society. Liberty can exist only when equal rights are granted and guaranteed to all the people

without any discrimination.

Grant of special privileges and rights to any class is always against the spirit of liberty. However,

grant of some special privileges to the deprived sections of society (Protective Discrimination) is

deemed just and essential.

4. Democratic System:

Establishment of a democratic system is an essential safeguard of liberty. Both liberty and

democracy are supplementary to each other. We cannot conceive of a democracy without the

presence of civil, economic, political and individual liberty. Likewise, in the absence of the right

to freedom there can be no real democracy.

5. The Rights of one should not be dependent upon the will of others:

Laski suggests that the state must ensure that rights and freedoms of some people should not be

dependent upon the will and happiness of others. The rulers and ruled should both be under the

rule of law.

6. Fair Governmental Action:

For safeguarding Liberty, it is essential that the government should exercise unbiased and

impartial control over every section of society. It must acts as a responsible transparent and

accountable government.

7. Protection of Fundamental Rights:

One of the key methods of safeguarding liberty is to incorporate a charter of fundamental rights

and freedoms in the constitution of the State. Along with it, judicial protection should be given

to rights.
8. Independence of Judiciary:

Judiciary should be assigned the responsibility to protect all rights and freedoms of the people.

For discharging such an important function, the judiciary must be made independent and fully

empowered.

9. Separation of Powers:

Separation of powers should be secured between the legislature and executive. Judiciary should

be totally separate from these. Any concentration or combination of these powers can be

dangerous for Liberty

10. Decentralisation of Powers:

For safeguarding liberty against possible dictatorship/ authoritarianism, it is essential that

decentralisation of powers should be affected. The power of the government, particularly its

executive branch should be distributed among a number of organisations and these should be

located at all the three levels of government-local, provincial/ regional and national.

11. Rule of Law:

All the people should be under the same laws and bound by same types of obligations. No one

should be above law.

13. Economic Equality:

Equitable and fairer distribution of income, wealth and resources, and adequate opportunities

for lively-hood are essential safeguards of Liberty. Without economic equality, there can be no

real enjoyment of liberty.

14. Well Organised Interest Groups and Non-government Organisations:

One very essential safeguard for Liberty is the presence of well-organised interest groups and

non-governmental organisations or voluntary social service organisations i.e. Civil Society. Such

organisations can act unitedly for fight all violations of liberty.

All these conditions are necessary for securing Liberty of every person.
Scope of Criminology
Like other social sciences, the scope of criminology is also quite vast and
extensive. It is related to each and every social class and structure. Though the
scope of criminology is very vast and coextensive with many sciences, the
criminologists have tried to limit its scope in order to be able to study the subject
scientifically, systematically and exhaustively. The viewpoints of certain notable
criminologists are given on next page:
(A) According to Sutherland the science of criminology, “includes within its scope
the processes of making laws, of breaking laws, and of reacting towards the
breaking of laws.” In the opinion of Sutherland criminology has three distinct
aspects of departments. Though distinct, these are nonetheless not independent, but
inter-linked. A thorough study of these aspects exhausts the scope of criminology;
to study all of them is the same as studying the whole science of criminology. In
accordance with Sutherland’s description of the scope of criminology, we can
divide it into departments:
(a) The sociology of law-In this we study the nature of crime from legalistic point
of view. Also we investigate into the effects of present laws upon them and study
the possible reforms in the laws in order to prevent and control the occurrence of
crime. The major concern of the sociology of law is to critically examine the
impact of various legal systems upon crime. This study can go a long way to
evolve suitable changes in the laws to curb crime.
(b) Criminal Etiology-In this department a systematic investigation into the various
causes of crime is made. Here we study the social and personal factors responsible
for the occurrence of crime and growth of criminals.
(c) Penology-Besides knowledge and determination of the causes and factors
which generate or encourage crime, it is equally, if not more essential to know the
ways and means of controlling and preventing the crime. This aspect is studied
systematically and in a scientific manner to achieve control over crime. The facts
and theories in this regard from the scope of Penology, an important department of
criminology.
The Viewpoint of Elliot and Merrill
The eminent scholars Elliot and Merrill have made an exhaustive and thorough
study regarding the scope of criminology. According to these scholars, in
criminology we study four sets of facts. These are as follows:
(a) The Nature of Crime-What are the features of crime? What type of action is
crime? In what respect does a criminal act differ from a social or moral act? Is it
just the action which may be considered criminal or can the motive make
difference to our description of a crime? For example, the theft committed for
personal gain and the theft committed for impersonal reasons or social gain are
both cases of theft. Can we make any distinction between the two? The answers to
these questions tell us the nature of crime.
(b) Investigations into the causes of Crime-Under this aspect of Criminology we
study the reasons of criminal behaviour. The different types of crime have different
causes. Are these differences apparent or real? Can we come by a general theory of
crime which will be adequate to explain all types of crime? Are there relations,
inverse or direct, between various crimes. These questions are investigated under
this head. Besides, we also study the question of responsibility of crimes. If
criminals are made and not born, who is responsible for encouraging criminality?
Is it parent education or social system that is responsible in conjunction or one of
these alone? All these questions form the subject mater of this aspect of
criminology.
(c) Individualized Study of Criminals-How and when does one turn into a
criminal? What particular event or series of events happen which turn man towards
criminality? In order to know all these facts we have to study in detail the personal
lives of the criminals. Also we have to study the life of a person in totality for
understanding the nature of crime and criminal. For this purpose we make use of
what has come to be known as the technique of case-history method.
(d) Study of Prevention of Crime & Reform of the Criminal-Most obviously
crimes is inimical to the interests of the society. They not only disturb the social
equilibrium but make life hell for the criminal as well as his relatives. Even more,
due to crime the normal law abiding citizen lives in fear. Therefore it is most
essential to devise ways and means to prevent crime and reform the criminals.
Should the system of punishment the deterrent, preventive, reformative or
exemplary? What type of punishment is adequate for each type of crime? Such
quest