LAW, FREEDOM AND

DUTY
Br. Irol Torres, SVD
▶ 1. Negative Freedom – the absence of external constraints; freedom from
coercive or preventive threats.
▶ Negative liberty will be taken from the criminals to prevent them from harming
and violating other’s liberty.
▶ 2. Positive Freedom - self-control or rational mastery over one’s appetites; ability of
an individual to control his/her circumstances.
▶ The degree of freedom the law can provide may vary upon the capacity and
responsibility of persons. Example: a minor or a lunatic will need a guardian
because he cannot really decide for himself/herself and exercise positive liberty.

TWO KINDS OF FREEDOM

(ISAIAH BERLIN)
▶ Authentic Freedom: takes into account both
permissibility and possibility, meaning, you are not just
allowed, but are able;
▶ the capacity to enjoy the good life and fulfill one’s
potential and not the opportunity to do harm, whether
to others or to oneself.

AUTHENTIC FREEDOM
▶ Section 1. No person shall be deprived of life,
liberty, or property without due process of law,
nor shall any person be denied equal protection of
the laws.

BILL OF RIGHTS, ART. II

▶ Liberty – denotes not merely freedom from
physical restraint or imprisonment
▶ It also embraces the right of a person to use his/her
faculties which he/she has been endowed by his/her
Creator subject only to the limitations that he/she
does not violate the law or the rights of others

LIBERTY
▶ Liberty – not a license or unlimited freedom to act
according to one’s will.
▶ The very enjoyment of rights necessarily imposes the
observance of duties
▶ Rights and duties are inseparable.
▶ Example: One may enjoy freedom of speech, but cannot
use it to urge the overthrow of the government, or to
defame another.

LIBERTY
▶ Duty – a moral or legal obligation
▶ signifies a thing due; that which a person owes to
another. (Black’s Law Dictionary)
▶ An obligation arising from contract of the parties
or the operation of law. (The Law Dictionary)
▶ Example: to obey the law.

DUTY