Introduction to Legal Theory - What is freedom Does law necessarily Essay

Introduction to Legal Theory - What is freedom Does law necessarily restrict freedom - Essay Example This paper examines whether Thomas Hobbes’ philosophy of freedom is well taken care of under current laws. Hobbes posited that human beings are free when their actions are not under the limitation from any other party. In a liberal world, for example, Hobbes would argue that one’s enjoyment of freedom does not encompass the right to subject another person to slavery1. In addition, freedom falls short of the legal right to hit people where there is no need for self-defence. Essentially, a free individual has the wide latitude under the law to engage in whatever he or she so wishes provided that those activities do not offensively hurt or force other individuals against their own freedoms. Freedom apparently cannot encompass the legitimate right to infringe other peoples liberty because that would not only be unfair but illogical2. As Hobbes has indicated, freedom does encompass the legal right to defend oneself from offenders who try to harm or thrust their own will upon the liberal person. In some way, freedom might be real in political lenses, but socially unfavourable, for an individual to enjoy legal protection to inflict aggressive harm on other people if nobody enjoyed the freedom to not be harmed in such manner. It is the ensuing complications as to the enjoyment of freedoms that the law sets in to guarantee the maximum level of liberties which an individual should enjoy in an environment where coexistence is imperative3. In light of this, as Hobbes has said, laws do not necessarily limit freedoms; rather, they enforce a sense of self-control among the citizenry in order to ensure that every person enjoys the maximum freedom possible without behaving in a manner that would be detrimental to others4. In the United Kingdom, The Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998 is the main body of law which seeks to provide maximum freedoms to the UK citizens. The statute also seeks to safeguard the legal interests of all stakeholders in the society. The HRA envisages