Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains - Proverb

Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains

This is the famous sentence in Rousseau’s Social Contract in which he explains what can make the bondage of society ‘legitimate’.

Liberty is sometimes misinterpreted as freedom from the restraint of law. People being given liberty do sometimes act in a manner subversive of law and argue that since they are free they can do whatever they like and nobody has any right to challenge it. There people apparently confuse liberty with license.

Liberty is based on the recognition of rights of other people and a proper respect of Law regulates relations between individuals and maintains social equilibrium. The unrestrained use of liberty may give rise to fights among themselves, revolts and other anti-social activities and the liberty of the community itself may be endangered. Hence any infringement or violation of law is prevented by the machinery of the State. Law thus brings some limitations on the liberty of every individual.