THE FREEDOM

1 Left  ^era:          the freedom

Freedom means  the possibility of acting according to its own will, without constraint. First term of the French republican currency, it is  a fundamental principle of the democracy.

However, even in the democracies, freedom has  limits.

1.   "IT There A NOT OF FREEDOM WITHOUT LAWS"

Freedom "consists in  being able to do all that does not harm others " says article 4 of the Declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen of 1789. The freedom of an individual thus has limits: the freedom of the others.

But these limits should not be posed anyhow: the Declaration says that they can "be fixed only by the law ". The democratic laws, without which anarchy règnerait, are necessary to guarantee freedom.

It is exactly what expresses, twenty-five years before the French revolution, the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau: "There is freedom without laws, nor where somebody is above the laws" (written Letters of the mountain,  1764).

2.   FREEDOM EAST A RIGHT TO THE MULTIPLE FORMS

Freedom actually covers with multiple aspects. This is why one speaks more readily about "freedoms " in the plural. These freedoms rise from the basic rights recognized to the man: they are the application of  the humans right, such as they were devoted to  the xviii ^E century.

Among freedoms, one distinguishes the personal freedoms from collective freedoms.

The personal freedoms  are rights which each individual can  only exert: the freedom of going and coming, freedom of thought, religious freedom, freedom to have a private life (the residence is inviolable, the secrecy of the correspondence is protected, etc), the safety (which consists in being protected from an unjust arrest, nonfounded), etc.

Collective freedoms  are those which several people can  exert together: press, demonstration, association, right to meet. The voting rights also belong to the category of collective freedoms: to vote has direction only if the whole of the citizens expresses his opinion.

Among these freedoms, some relate to also  the economic and social life: freedom to syndicate, strike, to choose its employment, etc.

3.   A PROGRESSIVE CONQUEST

It is in England that the personal freedom was protected most precociously.

In this country, the conquest of freedom was progressive. Since 1100, the aristocracy obtains from the king  a charter of freedoms, followed soon by  the Large Charter  of 1215 which limits the capacity of the king on the men.

The law of habeas corpus  of 1679 interdict the arbitrary imprisonment and marks, so a decisive projection in the fight for freedom and the dignity of the person.

Lastly, the Declaration of the rights of 1689, imposed to the sovereign, proclaims the guarantee of  fundamental freedoms  of the British subjects: freedom of circulation, expression, association, right of recourse against the king.

The English laws are largely discussed during all  the xviii ^E century by the French philosophers of the Lights. They inspire the American Thomas Jefferson, principal writer of the Declaration of American independence (1776) as well as the writers of the Declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen of 1789.

4.   A COMBAT ALWAYS Of TOPICALITY

The rise of totalitarian modes in Europe (Nazism, Fascism, Stalinism) in the years 1930 showed at which point freedom was  a fragile asset, and the democracy a vulnerable form of government.

It thus appeared necessary, the shortly after the Second World war, to reaffirm these basic human rights. In 1948, UNO adopts  the universal Declaration of the humans right, who makes introduction and safeguarding of freedom a priority.

This one is however a right still ridiculed in many country of the world, in prey with dictatorships.

2 ^2nd   Part:  Personal freedoms

We are free, but we know that that does not authorize us to absolutely do all that we want. What the principle of freedom? Which significant freedoms each one among does enjoy us it? 

1.  Freedom, a natural right

All the democracies rest on the principle of freedom. According to this principle, all the men are free by nature: freedom is a natural right,  a basic right.  That does not want to say that each one can do all that he wants. As the men live in company and that they all are  also  free, it is necessary to fix limits at the freedom of each one to protect freedom from the others: "freedom consists in being able to do all that does not harm others" (universal Declaration of the humans right and of the citizen of 1789, article 4). As long as it is not established by the law that a behavior is dangerous for the life in company, it is authorized: freedom is the rule, prohibition the exception.

The fact of being free thus gives us rights which one precisely calls of  right-freedom, of the rights to act without being blocked (right to practise a religion, right to open a trade, right to travel, etc). It is necessary to distinguish these rights of  the right-credit, which are rights to obtain something (right to education, right to the family benefits, right to the vacation, etc).

2. Freedom and freedoms

As all that is not prohibited by the law is authorized, it is impossible to make a list of all freedoms. On the other hand, the Constitution draws up a list of  fundamental freedoms, those without which no freedom is possible, and which is particularly protected. Among these basic rights, the majority can be exerted by each one: they are the personal freedoms. Others, on the other hand, cannot be exerted by a person alone. It is necessary to be several so that they have a direction: they are collective freedoms.

 The freedom of going and coming  is also called the personal freedom in a strict sense. It is freedom to move and use its time as one wants. It is that which one is private when one is in prison. To protect it, the law punishes arbitrary detention hard, any arrest which is not necessary to justice. One can put in prison only those which are condemned for a fault punished by the law or the suspects which it is necessary to prevent from fleeing.

 The freedom of conscience  is the freedom of thought. It indicates also, more precisely, freedom to choose its religion, to practise it as it is wanted or to choose none of it. In a laic State like France, the freedom of conscience has as a limit the respect of the freedom of conscience of the others and obedience with the law, which is the same one for all without reference to religion.

 The freedom of expression  is freedom to communicate by any means (word, written, image, press, deliver, song, etc.) without the message being controlled before being made public. This control, which one calls the censure, existed in France until 1870 (beginning of the III ^E République), then was restored during the wars. There exists still today in many countries. But the absence of censure does not mean that one can say anything: it is necessary to respect  the dignity  of those about which one speaks. Thus, that which publishes charges libelous (false and that it can be false) or which reveals with the public of information, same exact, on the private life of a person which does not wish that this information be published, risk to be continued in front of justice. 

 3 ^2nd  Part:   Collective freedoms

We are not free separately, but in company. Is this for that which there are collective freedoms? Which are they? What do they have of private individual compared to the personal freedoms? 

1.  The freedoms exerted with several

The majority of freedoms are those of the person: these are rights that each one can only exert (freedom of conscience, freedom of going and coming). But certain freedoms have direction only if several people exert them together: they are called collective freedoms.

 The right of association  is the type even of collective freedom. There is association only if several people are concerned. Recognized in France since 1901, this freedom makes it possible million citizens to practise activities which are not possible that in group. So that an association exists, can sell, buy or to employ employees, it is enough that it is declared with the prefecture. The services of the prefecture are satisfied to record the declaration, without giving the least opinion on the reasons for which association is created. If an association does not respect the law, it is not sanctioned at the time of its creation, but later, by justice and on evidence drawn from its real operation.

 The right to meet  and  the freedom of demonstration  are, they also, inconceivable if they are not exerted with several. These freedoms are exerted about like the right of association. However, it is more current than they undermine the law and order: meetings gathering too many people so that the safety of each one is assured, demonstration disturbing circulation, etc. For these reasons, the law provides that the police force, in load of the law and order, can prohibit certain meetings or demonstrations.

One can also classify, among collective freedoms,  the all media  and freedom of the press, more generally, (audio-visual, Internet, etc). It is about a particular form of the freedom of expression: free transmission of information by professionals. It is thus not conceived without journalists, without bodies of press (newspapers, chains of television, etc.) and of course without public. All these actors have, indeed, need from/to each other. The freedom of the press is regulated, essentially, like the freedom of expression, but it is necessary also to take account of the constraints which the companies of press and the significant capacity undergo that the media have on the opinion.

2. Political freedoms

 The political rights,  like the voting rights, belong to collective freedoms: to vote has direction only if the community, the whole of the citizens, expresses his opinion. More generally, collective freedoms, as a whole, make it possible to the citizens to be organized, which is a condition of their participation in the public life. The freedom of the press is thus essential so that the elections are really free. The right of association is at the origin of the political parties, as well as trade unions, which gather the workers so that they can better defend their interests. Collective freedoms are the base of  the democracy. 

4 ^2nd  Part:     Limits of freedom

Even in the democracies, freedom has limits. How to make so that these limits are right? In which cases does have one to fix some? 

1. Freedom and the law: principles of the State of right

In the countries which recognize the humans right, the democracies, the men are free, but they are also equal in dignity and rights. The freedom of each one cannot thus carry wrong to the freedom of the others, which has the same value exactly. It is the direction of the definition of the freedom given by the universal Declaration of the humans right and of the citizen of 1789: "freedom consists in being able to do all that does not harm others " (article 4). Limits with freedom (a "terminal", known as the following sentence of the Declaration) are thus necessary. But the Declaration of 1789 specifies immediately afterwards: "this terminal can be fixed only by the law". One cannot thus restrict freedoms anyhow: one needs a law, discussed and voted by the representatives of the people. The law, indeed, is "the expression of the general will" (article 6 of the Declaration).

No public authority (minister, mayor, the main thing of college, etc.) thus the harbour due does not have reached to the freedom of somebody if it did not receive the capacity of a law from it. The decisions of the administrations which do not respect the law are arbitrary, in fact abuse of powers can be cancelled by the administrative judge. We are thus in a mode where,  to protect freedom, everyone, including the government,  is subjected to the law and the control of the judges: it is what one calls a State of right. The law itself cannot suspend fundamental freedoms. It must indeed respect the Constitution and certain treaties signed by France, which protect these freedoms.

2. Conflicts of freedoms

When two also recognized and also valid freedoms are in conflict, the law must intervene. It slices by regulating freedoms in question: it becomes possible  to reconcile  two freedoms or of knowing which has priority and in which case.

Freedom to undertake is one of the aspects of freedom. Each one is free to create a company, but also to buy that of another to join together it with his, to do what one calls a concentration. But, if a concentration are done in the field of the press or the audio-visual one, the pluralism of information (the expression of the different opinions) to be threatened risk and, with him, freedom of the press. This is why the French law prohibited the concentration of the companies of information beyond a certain threshold.

3. Freedom and the law and order

Freedoms can also be regulated  to guarantee the law and order. One thus calls the whole of the conditions which make it possible the law to be applied: justice can, for example, to continue, make stop and condemn the authors of infringements. Form also part of the law and order, the respect of principles recognized by the Constitution, like the human dignity, to which no freedom can carry reached.

Thus, the freedom of conscience makes that all the beliefs are accomodated in France. But if it is proven that a movement which thinks religious undermines the dignity of its members, by humiliating treatments or by them making act under the constraint, this movement (which one then calls a sect) can be continued and dissolved by justice.