THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



FEBRUARY, 1892. 



PERSONAL LIBERTY. 



By EDWARD ATKINSON, assisted by EDWAED T. CABOT. 



IN dealing with many of the questions which come within the 

 domain of the student of political economy or of social sci- 

 ence it becomes expedient to refer to the decisions of the courts, 

 especially among the English-speaking people. The paramount 

 question at issue to-day is the maintenance of personal liberty. 

 The precepts upon which personal liberty rest have become in- 

 corporated in the common law, and when personal rights are 

 impaired by statute law the complainant may appeal to the courts 

 and may establish his own control over all the factors that are 

 necessary or conducive to his support as a matter of right, so long 

 as he does not infringe the equal rights of others. Among such 

 factors is the right to control one's own time. 



One of the most profound changes which has occurred in the 

 relations of men to each other has been the change from status 

 to contract. In ancient days, under ancient law, the place which 

 a man could hold in society was fixed by the condition of his 

 birth, by his relation to his father, his family, or his gens or his 

 class. His individuality was absolutely subordinate to the con- 

 dition in which he had been born. From the dawn of history 

 contract may have been found in existence, but its fulfillment 

 depended upon its form rather than upon any moral engagement. 

 Sir Henry Maine observes that "the conception" (of contract) 

 " when it first shows itself is rudimentary. No trustworthy primi- 

 tive record can be read without perceiving that the habit of mind 

 which induces us to make good a promise is as yet imperfectly 

 developed, and that acts of flagrant perfidy are often mentioned 

 without blame, and sometimes described with approbation. In 

 the Homeric literature the deceitful cunning of Ulysses appears 



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