“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

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John Austin (legal philosopher)6

legal philosopher 1790–1859

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“These are vital issues, in which the Nation greatly needs a revival of interest and concern. It is senseless to boast of our liberty when we find that to so shocking an extent it is merely the liberty to go ill-governed. It is time to take warning that neither the liberties we prize nor the system under which we claim them are safe while such conditions exist.”

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John Austin (legal philosopher)6

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