Rights to Liberty in Purely Private Matters

Jonathan Riley

Economics and Philosophy, 1989, vol. 5, issue 2, 121-166

Abstract: John Stuart Mill provides a classic defense of individual and group rights to liberty with respect to purely private or self-regarding matters:The only part of the conduct of any one, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself … directly, and in the first instance, … his independence is, of right, absolute.… From this liberty of each individual, follows the liberty, within the same limits, of combination among individuals; freedom to unite, for any purpose not involving harm to others: the persons combining being supposed to be of full age, and not forced or deceived. (1859, pp. 224–26)

Date: 1989
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