“To the ignorant and bawling fanatics who stun you with their pother about liberty, political or civil liberty seems to be the principal end for which government ought to exist. But the final cause or purpose for which government ought to exist, is the furtherance of the common weal to the greatest possible extent.”

Source: The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832), p. 224

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "To the ignorant and bawling fanatics who stun you with their pother about liberty, political or civil liberty seems to …" by John Austin (legal philosopher)?
John Austin (legal philosopher) photo
John Austin (legal philosopher) 6
legal philosopher 1790–1859

Related quotes

George Howard Earle, Jr. photo

“Equality of treatment is the chief purpose for which the Government exists … Liberty is but an equality of justice.”

George Howard Earle, Jr. (1856–1928) American lawyer

From Hearing Before the Committee on Interstate Commerce: United States Senate Sixty-second Congress pursuant to S. Res. 98 &c. (6 December 1911:803)

Catherine the Great photo
John Quincy Adams photo

“The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. ”

John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) American politician, 6th president of the United States (in office from 1825 to 1829)
William Cranch photo

“In a government which is emphatically stiled a government of laws, the least possible range ought to be left for the discretion of the judge.”

William Cranch (1769–1855) United States federal judge (1769-1855)

Source: Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Supreme Court of the United States (1804) https://books.google.com/books?id=Wxm9qWvls8YC&pg=PR3

Calvin Coolidge photo
George Mason photo
Rutherford B. Hayes photo

“The Commons of England for Hereditary Fundamental Liberties and Propertiesy are blest above and beyond the Subjects of any Monarch or State in the World.
First, No Freeman of England ought to be imprisoned, or otherwise restrains, without Cause shewn, for which by Law, he ought to be so imprisoned.”

Edward Chamberlayne (1616–1703) English writer

Source: Angliæ Notitia, 1676, 1704, p. 302: Cited in: Gerald Stourzh. "Liberal Democracy as a Culture of Rights: England, the United States, and Continental Europe." Bridging the Atlantic. (2002) p. 11

James Madison photo

“It would certainly be more consonant to the principles of liberty which ought never to be lost sight of in a contest for liberty…”

James Madison (1751–1836) 4th president of the United States (1809 to 1817)

Letter to Joseph Jones (28 November 1780) https://books.google.com/books?id=-IrnXiH2lbAC&pg=PA11&dq=%22Madison%22+%22coveting+that+liberty+for+which+we+have+paid%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAGoVChMI_ab6o9vWxwIVCmg-Ch1jIgiE#v=onepage&q=%22Madison%22%20%22coveting%20that%20liberty%20for%20which%20we%20have%20paid%22&f=false <!--https://books.google.com/books?id=zkRKqnxjbAoC&pg=PA199&dq=%22liberate+and+make+soldiers+at+once+of%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CC4Q6AEwA2oVChMIyeyr5cPRxwIVDDU-Ch2IxQjN#v=onepage&q=%22liberate%20and%20make%20soldiers%20at%20once%20of%22&f=false-->
1780s
Context: Would it not be as well to liberate and make soldiers at once of the blacks themselves, as to make them instruments for enlisting white soldiers? It would certainly be more consonant to the principles of liberty which ought never to be lost sight of in a contest for liberty...

John Adams photo

“We ought to consider what is the end of government, before we determine which is the best form.”

John Adams (1735–1826) 2nd President of the United States

1770s, Thoughts on Government (1776)
Context: We ought to consider what is the end of government, before we determine which is the best form. Upon this point all speculative politicians will agree, that the happiness of society is the end of government, as all Divines and moral Philosophers will agree that the happiness of the individual is the end of man. From this principle it will follow, that the form of government which communicates ease, comfort, security, or, in one word, happiness, to the greatest number of persons, and in the greatest degree, is the best.

Related topics