Abstract
The words liberty (libertas) and republic (res publica) grew up together in the political vocabulary of the Roman state and its would-be successors. Liberals separated the two by discarding the republican commitment to popular sovereignty and balanced government. Pursuit of the common good and the rule of law remained, at least initially, to support the idea that governments should rule by consent. This meant that liberalism and republicanism were not very different, at least at the outset. John Locke defined the “liberty of man in society” as subjection to the duly enacted laws of a legislature established by consent, and independent of any private will.’ The legislative power itself should be “limited to the publick good” of society.2 Benjamin Constant saw “liberty” in England, France, and the United States of America as “the right to be subjected only to the laws” and never to the “arbitrary will of one or more individuals.”3
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© 1998 M.N.S. Sellers
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Sellers, M.N.S. (1998). Liberty. In: The Sacred Fire of Liberty. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230371811_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230371811_25
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-40604-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-37181-1
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