Liberty
Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 7:01 am
The following describe “liberty” generally. Definitions of specific types of liberty will follow, as time allows.
BIBLE
“Liberty” as found in the King James Version of the Holy Bible
“Christ and Liberty” from The Christian Jural Society News by John William
Anti-Thought-Control Dictionary created by American Christian Ministries
http://benwilliamslibrary.com/dictionary_set.html
DEFINITIONS
Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
MAXIMS
Libertas inaestimabilis res est.
Liberty is an inestimable good.
Quotiens dubia interpretatio libertatis est, secundum libertatem respondendum erit.
Whenever there is a doubt between liberty and slavery, the decision must be in favor of liberty.
QUOTES
Marcus Tullius Cicero:
BIBLE
“Liberty” as found in the King James Version of the Holy Bible
“Christ and Liberty” from The Christian Jural Society News by John William
Anti-Thought-Control Dictionary created by American Christian Ministries
http://benwilliamslibrary.com/dictionary_set.html
Liberty
CONTROLLED MEANING: A state of happy citizenship under a protective central government which grants its citizens freedom and protects them from all enemies domestic and foreign. The government of a free people permits them to have freedom of religion, speech, and association. Free people are allowed their own property and privacy. Liberty is the result of living under the rule of a group of lawmakers chosen by the voting populace.
TRUE MEANING: "Liberty" is freedom to do, and be accountable for, what you think is right. Liberty is living in a state of natural freedom. Man's natural freedom, under God, cannot be granted by a government — it can only be honored or violated! Therefore, anything called "liberty" that is granted by man, or man's government, is not truly liberty — IT IS LICENSE (permission to do something that would otherwise be illegal). License (privilege) can be granted by man. Freedom and liberty cannot.
Being able to vote for which group of men rule over you makes them no less your rulers. Men ruled by men are not free! Any government system which place men as rulers over other men is a system of slavery. Liberty is repugnant to such a government. Such governments usually rename "liberty" with ugly labels such as "anarchy," "rebellion," and "terrorism."
"Liberty" is when you don't depend upon a government to protect you or grant you anything. "Liberty" is when you are responsible for yourself and your property without interference from government.
God's Word is man's best definition of LIBERTY. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2 Cor 3:17) "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." (Gal 5:1) "So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by THE LAW OF LIBERTY" (James 2:12).
DEFINITIONS
Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, 1856LIB'ERTY, noun [Latin libertas, from liber, free.]
1. Freedom from restraint, in a general sense, and applicable to the body, or to the will or mind. The body is at liberty when not confined; the will or mind is at liberty when not checked or controlled. A man enjoys liberty when no physical force operates to restrain his actions or volitions.
2. Natural liberty consists in the power of acting as one thinks fit, without any restraint or control, except from the laws of nature. It is a state of exemption from the control of others, and from positive laws and the institutions of social life. This liberty is abridged by the establishment of government.
3. Civil liberty is the liberty of men in a state of society, or natural liberty so far only abridged and restrained, as is necessary and expedient for the safety and interest of the society, state or nation. A restraint of natural liberty not necessary or expedient for the public, is tyranny or oppression. civil liberty is an exemption from the arbitrary will of others, which exemption is secured by established laws, which restrain every man from injuring or controlling another. Hence the restraints of law are essential to civil liberty.
The liberty of one depends not so much on the removal of all restraint from him, as on the due restraint upon the liberty of others.
In this sentence, the latter word liberty denotes natural liberty.
4. Political liberty is sometimes used as synonymous with civil liberty But it more properly designates the liberty of a nation, the freedom of a nation or state from all unjust abridgment of its rights and independence by another nation. Hence we often speak of the political liberties of Europe, or the nations of Europe.
5. Religious liberty is the free right of adopting and enjoying opinions on religious subjects, and of worshiping the Supreme Being according to the dictates of conscience, without external control.
6. Liberty in metaphysics, as opposed to necessity, is the power of an agent to do or forbear any particular action, according to the determination or thought of the mind, by which either is preferred to the other.
Freedom of the will; exemption from compulsion or restraint in willing or volition.
7. Privilege; exemption; immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant; with a plural. Thus we speak of the liberties of the commercial cities of Europe.
8. Leave; permission granted. The witness obtained liberty to leave the court.
9. A space in which one is permitted to pass without restraint, and beyond which he may not lawfully pass; with a plural; as the liberties of a prison.
10. Freedom of action or speech beyond the ordinary bounds of civility or decorum. Females should repel all improper liberties.
To take the liberty to do or say any thing, to use freedom not specially granted.
To set at liberty to deliver from confinement; to release from restraint.
To be at liberty to be free from restraint.
Liberty of the press, is freedom from any restriction on the power to publish books; the free power of publishing what one pleases, subject only to punishment for abusing the privilege, or publishing what is mischievous to the public or injurious to individuals.
First occurrence in the Bible(KJV): Leviticus 25:10
Black’s Law Dictionary, 1st Edition, 1891LIBERTY.
1. Freedom from restraint. The power of acting as one thinks fit, without any restraint or control, except from the laws of nature.
2. Liberty is divided into civil, natural, personal, and political.
Black’s Law Dictionary, 2nd Edition, 1910LIBERTY.
1. Freedom; exemption from extraneous control. The power of the will, in its moral freedom, to follow the dictates of its unrestricted choice, and to direct the external acts of the individual without restraint, coercion, or control from other persons.
2. The word also means a franchise or personal privilege, being some part of the sovereign power, vested in an individual, either by grant or prescription.
A Compilation of Words and Phrases Judicially Defined By The Supreme Court Of Georgia And The Court Of Appeals, 1910LIBERTY.
1. Freedom; exemption from extraneous control. The power of the will, in its moral freedom, to follow the dictates of its unrestricted choice, and to direct the external acts of the Individual without restraint, coercion, or control from other persons.
"Liberty," as used in the provision of the fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution, forbidding the states to deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, includes, it seems, not merely the right of a person to be free from physical restraint, but to be free in the enjoyment of all his faculties in all lawful ways; to live and work where he will ; to earn his livelihood by any lawful calling ; to pursue any livelihood or avocation ; and for that purpose to enter into all contracts which may be proper, necessary, and essential to carrying out the purposes above mentioned.
2. The word also means a franchise or personal privilege, being some part of the sovereign power, vested in an individual, either by grant or prescription.
Black’s Law Dictionary, 7th Edition, 1999LIBERTY.
Franchise—In general.—A franchise is a particular privilege or right granted by the sovereign power of a state to an individual or a number of individuals. In this sense “franchise” is a synonym for “liberty.” Central R. R. Co. v. The State, 54 Ga. 409.
WEX Legal DictionaryLiberty
1. Freedom from arbitrary or undue restraint, esp. by a government <give me liberty or give me death>.
2. A right, privilege, or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant; the absence of a legal duty imposed on a person <the liberties protected by the Constitution>.
Liberty
Freedom from restraint, slavery, or imprisonment, and the power to follow one's own will within the limits set by the law or society.
MAXIMS
Libertas inaestimabilis res est.
Liberty is an inestimable good.
Quotiens dubia interpretatio libertatis est, secundum libertatem respondendum erit.
Whenever there is a doubt between liberty and slavery, the decision must be in favor of liberty.
QUOTES
Marcus Tullius Cicero:
Cervantes:Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude.
Wendell Phillips:Liberty is one of the choicest gifts that heaven hath bestowed upon man, and exceeds in value all the treasures which the earth contains within its bosom, or the sea covers. Liberty, as well as honor, man ought to preserve at the hazard of his life, for without it life is insupportable.
Learned Hand:No free people can lose their liberties while they are jealous of liberty. But the liberties of the freest people are in danger when they set up symbols of liberty as fetishes, worshipping the symbol instead of the principle it represents.
Thomas Jefferson:What do we mean when we say that first of all we seek liberty? I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it… What is this liberty that must lie in the hearts of men and women? It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not the freedom to do as one likes. That is the denial of liberty and leads straight to its overthrow. A society in which men recognize no check on their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few -- as we have learned to our sorrow. What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias...
God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure if we have removed their only firm basis: a conviction in the minds of men that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.
The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave.
Thomas Paine:The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates his duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression;
for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
Benjamin Franklin:When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Where liberty dwells, there is my country.
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!
Samuel Adams:If by the liberty of the press were understood merely the liberty of discussing the propriety of public measures and political opinions, let us have as much of it as you please: But if it means the liberty of affronting, calumniating and defaming one another, I, for my part, own myself willing to part with my share of it, whenever our legislators shall please so to alter the law and shall cheerfully consent to exchange my liberty of abusing others for the privilege of not being abused myself.
John Adams:If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.
Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty.
Daniel Webster:Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have... a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean the characters and conduct of their rulers.
God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.
The contest, for ages, has been to rescue Liberty from the grasp of executive power.
James Madison:Liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint; the more restraint on others to keep off from us, the more liberty we have.
Alexander Hamilton:Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an ailment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.
Robert G. Ingersoll:The fundamental source of all your errors, sophisms, and false reasonings, is a total ignorance of the natural rights of mankind. Were you once to become acquainted with these, you could never entertain a thought, that all men are not, by nature, entitled to a parity of privileges. You would be convinced, that natural liberty is a gift of the beneficent Creator, to the whole human race; and that civil liberty is founded in that; and cannot be wrested from any people, without the most manifest violation of justice. Civil liberty is only natural liberty, modified and secured by the sanctions of civil society. It is not a thing, in its own nature, precarious and dependent on human will and caprice; but it is conformable to the constitution of man, as well as necessary to the well-being of society.
Mark Twain:What light is to the eyes – what air is to the lungs – what love is to the heart, liberty is to the soul of man. Without liberty, the brain is a dungeon, where the chained thoughts die with their pinions pressed against the hingeless doors
Ludwig von Mises:No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the congress is in session.
Bertrand Barere de Vieuzac:Government means always coercion and compulsion and is by necessity the opposite of liberty. Government is a guarantor of liberty and is compatible with liberty only if its range is adequately restricted to the preservation of economic freedom. Where there is no market economy, the best-intentioned provisions of constitutions and laws remain a dead letter.
Voltaire:The tree of liberty could not grow were it not watered with the blood of tyrants.
William Lloyd Garrison:All men have equal rights to liberty, to their property, and to the protection of the laws.
John Milton:Enslave the liberty of but one human being and the liberties of the world are put in peril.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau:Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.
Clarence S. Darrow:I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery.
George Orwell:You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free.
Jonathan Swift:If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
Liberty of conscience is nowadays only understood to be the liberty of believing what men please, but also of endeavoring to propagate that belief as much as they can.