BOOK XII.
Of the Laws that form political Liberty as relative to the Subject.
CHAP. I.
Idea of this Book.
Book XII.
Chap. 1.IT is not sufficient to have treated of political liberty as relative to the constitution; we must examine it likewise in the relation it bears to the subject.
We have observed that in the first case it is formed by a certain distribution of the three powers: but in the second we must consider it under another idea. It consists in security, or in the opinion people have of their security.
The constitution may happen to be free, and the subject not. The subject may be free, and not the constitution. In those cases, the constitution will be free by right and not in fact, the subject will be free in fact and not by right.
It is the disposition only of the laws, and even of the fundamental laws, that constitutes liberty in its relation to the constitution. But as it relates to the subject; morals, customs, or received examples may give rise to it, and particular civil laws may favour it, as we shall presently see in this book.
Farther, as in most states, liberty is more checked or depressed than their constitution demands, it is proper to treat of the particular laws
