Definition of "liberty" []

• The condition of being free from restriction or control. (noun)
• The right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one's own choosing. (noun)
• The condition of being physically and legally free from confinement, servitude, or forced labor. See Synonyms at freedom. (noun)
• Freedom from unjust or undue governmental control. (noun)
• A right or immunity to engage in certain actions without control or interference: the liberties protected by the Bill of Rights. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The argument in question proceeds on the notion that government can restrain nothing, unless it restrain the natural liberty of mankind; whereas, we have seen, the law which forbids the perpetration of mischief, or any other wrong, is a restriction, not upon the _liberty_, but upon the _tyranny_, of the human will."
• "Constitution, and this, because it is a legal rule to argue down from generals to particulars, and that the "words of a statute ought not to be interpreted to destroy natural justice;" but as Coke says, "Whenever the question of liberty runs doubtful, _the decision must be given in favor of liberty_.""
• "In such cases it was not religious liberty that caused the formation of new movements and new sects, but _the lack of religious liberty_."