Which one of the following reflects the most appropriate relationship between law and liberty ?
- (a) If there are more laws, there is less liberty.
- (b) If there are no laws, there is no liberty. ✓ UPSC's answer
- (c) If there is liberty, laws have to be made by the people.
- (d) If laws are changed too often, liberty is in danger.
Why the answer is (b)
• In political theory (Locke, Laski), law is the condition of liberty: without law there is only the rule of the strong, and no one's freedom is secure — 'where there is no law, there is no freedom' (Locke) — option (b).
• Option (a) is the anarchist/negative view that laws only restrict; it ignores that laws also protect liberty.
• Option (c) concerns democracy, not the law–liberty relationship itself; option (d) concerns legal stability, a secondary point.
• Hence option (b).
Why the other options are wrong
- (a) If there are more laws, there is less liberty.
- Laws protect as well as restrict liberty; more laws do not simply mean less liberty.
- (c) If there is liberty, laws have to be made by the people.
- Popular law-making is about democracy, not the essence of liberty.
- (d) If laws are changed too often, liberty is in danger.
- Frequent change is a stability concern, not the core relationship.
Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2018, held on 3 June 2018. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.