LEGAL LIBERTY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 798, 22 April 1910, Page 4

LEGAL LIBERTY.

LECTURE BY DR. FINDLAX. AGAINST INDreiDUAEESMv The Hon. Dr. Findlay delivered a.;lec ; turevbefore the Philosophical Society at Palmerstbn North last evening on Vhp subject of "Legal Liberty." Aftee 1 stating that ."civic freedom, historical!:) considered, has' been'.-the result of increasingly effective," - systematic resist" 1 anco td monarchial or oligarchical des»- ■ potisin," Dr. Findlay 'defined "legal liberty," as-"the sphere of activity ; within 'which the law is' content to leave m© ; alone."; This derived all the .rights, liberties, and freedom of th# : individual'.from the law. "I enjoy- ' them oit sufferance'. I am left alone,, not'because I have natural and inviol-', ablo rights • not to bo interfered with? by, the State so long as I am not im juring -someone else, but because, for-t sooth, tho 'is content to leavd mo alone.'" > ' .-

; • Indluidual v. State. { Dr. Findlay, analysed the views eg Hobbes, Locke; Eousseau, and other thinkers as to.the true relationship beT ;W*'iv the indivitinal and the State. Adam Smith's and Quesney's doctrines of tli© wildest natural freedom to every man in'his business or calling—of un-i limited freedom of trade-of unreJ strioted '. competition—led a revolt against .the strangling legal interferences, which enveloped -tho trade, and industrialism .of their day. /"Labouj was hampered. with all. sorts of.antia quated.and alpsurd restrictions, declar-' ing. where the .workmen . should lire, j, what trade they should, follow, wliea , and where they .should sell their goods. Industries'.were in a nbtwork of regulations. ..The coachiuilder in England waa forbidden either .to make, or to employ a journeyman, to make his coach whceli —i© must buy them from a master, wheelwright. The bootmaker in .part* of France could make—but he" must inot .mend— Germany everything/, was,(jone, by. rule.' ■ Spinning, tot instance, came under public iaspection, and. the yarn was, collected by officials.;*. The 'privilege; of- wearing was Jconfined to. the. confraternity of the ■gnild.i Methods , ;.of production were 'strictly •prescribed. Public inspectors .exercised control.-.-, The right of dealing in.vobttott;: goods ;wa"s. confined to the :confraternity of the merchant guild. T<h almost the.sig« 'nificanco of a" public office. The saw was aisq under strict supervision. For' a long time a fixed price prevailed, and', .a maximum sale-was officiaUy..Bs.escribed •for .each-dealer..-. ;.-.-:. .■.i'^x.rf:'.^ l .

: Strait-Jacket of Regulations. ' In England commerce was still struggling ' in the decaying .strait-jacket, .of the old ■ mercantile laws. .Everywhere throughout the. industrial and ~:. commercial system were artificial rules,' regulations, prohibitions and privileges.'Liberty was checked by a thousand ties, production-hampered, prices . unnatur- , .- ally, raised; and both tte energy and freedom of merchants-and of the' wealthmaking :agents. of ;the. '.nation were re■pressed .or. manacled."*:'.' . . . ; ? i. But these doctrines of liberty were* . advanced before the period of the new! industrialism, , and' when" that' 'began' Hheir operation, according to .the lee-- . ' turer,'was-disastrous. .'.Probably atno«( .-.-, period in English" history wasthe con-r dition of the English ..labourer worse* than during the first .twenty years'- of, . this -industrial' era, when competitions in ..thoj.absencei of-jthe -old restraints,' . ..■" . <ii,

■ , Natural Liberty .and Progress.;': ; Dr; Findlay' quoted ..from .tiori Ste* ■ phensY book, '.'Liberty, 1 Equality, Fra-i tornity," against the ' doctrine of in« diyidualism as .urged by John Stuarf Mill. ■ Thought- and experience-had\ shown that in modem nations the'system of natural liberty was not a. policy; of true social progress.-. That, on thai contrary, such progress .could be at-i taihed only by limiting greatly indivi-i ' dual liberty and by eliminating £h<r etruggle'for-a bare existence by check« : ing and removing,the. competition '. other conditions which gave'rise to'it< -. This'involved-.p'rovision'both'for ;th« : ascent ..of capacity - aiid; the: descent, ot ' \ incapacity. Individual rights and liberties must if necessary be limited and checked.' "But-while , the functions' oi the.State must increase in/> area, ande • number if.dor social'ideals are to, ba promoted, • ev«rj .increase ' should 'be ; jealously watched. ■Excess>f 'social' control" npon. the individual life is'- aa pernicious as excessive liberty. It -matters' litrJo from what source .thai control emanates. In, religion the co« -. erciofl.' of law,;: or. evon, of 'an aggress sive public opinion, produces an iriso' lent orthodoxy which makes conform< ity a radiaii-t virtue- and doubt and dis« sertt an offence; 'Conformity;so thnist 1 upon people. kills .religious liberty. In art tte enforcement of canons ol .'■'. taste produces, .as 'it. always has pro- . . : duced,. a conventional;'stilted and rigid . ■- 'On the social:side. : .of. life ex-: .'. cessive collective control, either by law; ; or custom, imposes that dead or ; para«. : ■'". ly'sing uniformity seen in Easte'mcoun-' tries, and, thus destroys 'the pictui- ■ , esquein "man and,-man.' ; On the economic side, .excessive interference checks enterprise■ and effort, .disheartens initiative, invention and courage,:and produces an industrialism at once cramped, inefficient and wasteful.!' .The national character' and temper of tho British nation might be'trusted to prevent anji serious limitation of. th,o area' of liberty" really essential' to a self-respecting, rigorous manhood." ' : : ..,....'.