Freedom Legality and the Rule of Law

There are numerous interactions between the rule of law and the
concept of freedom. We can see this by looking at Fuller’s eight principles
of legality, the positive and negative theories of liberty, coercive and
empowering laws, and the formal and substantive rules of law. Adherence
to the rules of formal legality promotes freedom by creating stability and
predictability in the law, on which the people can then rely to plan their
behaviors around the law—this is freedom under the law. Coercive laws
can actually promote negative liberty by pulling people out of a
Hobbesian state of nature, and then thereafter can be seen to decrease
negative liberty by restricting the behaviors that a person can perform
without receiving a sanction. Empowering laws promote negative freedom
by creating new legal abilities, which the people can perform. The law can
enhance positive freedom when it prohibits negative behaviors and
promotes positive behaviors. Finally, the content of the law can be used to
either promote or suppress individual freedom.