Liberty : (noun)
1: immunity from arbitrary exercise of authority: political
independence [syn: autonomy]
2: freedom of choice; "liberty of opinion"; "liberty of
worship"; "liberty--perfect liberty--to think or feel or
do just as one pleases"; "at liberty to choose whatever
occupation one wishes"
3: personal freedom from servitude or confinement or oppression
4: leave granted to a sailor or naval officer [syn: shore
leave]
5: an act of undue intimacy [syn: familiarity, impropriety,
indecorum]
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Liberty : \Lib"er*ty\ (l[i^]b"[~e]r*t[y^]), n.; pl. Liberties
(-t[i^]z). [OE. liberte, F. libert['e], fr. L. libertas, fr.
liber free. See Liberal.]
1. The state of a free person; exemption from subjection to
the will of another claiming ownership of the person or
services; freedom; -- opposed to slavery, serfdom,
bondage, or subjection.
But ye . . . caused every man his servant, and every
man his handmaid whom he had set at liberty at their
pleasure, to return, and brought them into
subjection. --Jer. xxxiv.
16.
Delivered fro the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the sons of God. --Bible, 1551.
Rom. viii. 21.
2. Freedom from imprisonment, bonds, or other restraint upon
locomotion.
Being pent from liberty, as I am now. --Shak.
3. A privilege conferred by a superior power; permission
granted; leave; as, liberty given to a child to play, or
to a witness to leave a court, and the like.
4. Privilege; exemption; franchise; immunity enjoyed by
prescription or by grant; as, the liberties of the
commercial cities of Europe.
His majesty gave not an entire county to any; much
less did he grant . . . any extraordinary liberties.
--Sir J.
Davies.
5. The place within which certain immunities are enjoyed, or
jurisdiction is exercised. [Eng.]
Brought forth into some public or open place within
the liberty of the city, and there . . . burned.
--Fuller.
6. A certain amount of freedom; permission to go freely
within certain limits; also, the place or limits within
which such freedom is exercised; as, the liberties of a
prison.
7. A privilege or license in violation of the laws of
etiquette or propriety; as, to permit, or take, a liberty.
He was repeatedly provoked into striking those who
had taken liberties with him. --Macaulay.
8. The power of choice; freedom from necessity; freedom from
compulsion or constraint in willing.
The idea of liberty is the idea of a power in any
agent to do or forbear any particular action,
according to the determination or thought of the
mind, whereby either of them is preferred to the
other. --Locke.
This liberty of judgment did not of necessity lead
to lawlessness. --J. A.
Symonds.
9. (Manege) A curve or arch in a bit to afford room for the
tongue of the horse.
10. (Naut.) Leave of absence; permission to go on shore.
At liberty.
(a) Unconfined; free.
(b) At leisure.
Civil liberty, exemption from arbitrary interference with
person, opinion, or property, on the part of the
government under which one lives, and freedom to take part
in modifying that government or its laws.
Liberty bell. See under Bell.
Liberty cap.
(a) The Roman pileus which was given to a slave at his
manumission.
(b) A limp, close-fitting cap with which the head of
representations of the goddess of liberty is often
decked. It is sometimes represented on a spear or a
liberty pole.
Liberty of the press, freedom to print and publish without
official supervision.
Liberty party, the party, in the American Revolution, which
favored independence of England; in more recent usage, a
party which favored the emancipation of the slaves.
Liberty pole, a tall flagstaff planted in the ground, often
surmounted by a liberty cap. [U. S.]
Moral liberty, that liberty of choice which is essential to
moral responsibility.
Religious liberty, freedom of religious opinion and
worship.
Syn: Leave; permission; license.
Usage: Liberty, Freedom. These words, though often
interchanged, are distinct in some of their
applications. Liberty has reference to previous
restraint; freedom, to the simple, unrepressed
exercise of our powers. A slave is set at liberty; his
master had always been in a state of freedom. A
prisoner under trial may ask liberty (exemption from
restraint) to speak his sentiments with freedom (the
spontaneous and bold utterance of his feelings). The
liberty of the press is our great security for freedom
of thought.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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LIBERTY. Freedom from restraint. The power of acting as one thinks fit,
without any restraint or control, except from the laws of nature.
2.Liberty : is divided into civil, natural, personal, and political.
3. Civil liberty is the power to do whatever is permitted by the
constitution of the state and the laws of the land. It is no other than
natural liberty, so far restrained by human laws, and no further, operating
equally upon all the citizens, as is necessary and expedient for the general
advantage of the public. 1 Black. Com. 125; Paley's Mor. Phil. B. 6, c.5;
Swifts Syst. 12
4. That system of laws is alone calculated to maintain civil liberty,
which leaves the citizen entirely master of his own conduct, except in those
points in which the public good requires some direction and restraint. When a
man is restrained in his natural liberty by no municipal laws but those
which are requisite to prevent his violating the natural law, and to promote
the greatest moral and physical welfare of the community, he is legally
possessed of the fullest enjoyment of his civil rights of individual
liberty. But it must not be inferred that individuals are to judge for
themselves how far the law may justifiably restrict their individual
liberty; for it is necessary to the welfare of the commonwealth, that the
law should be obeyed; and thence is derived the legal maxim, that no man may
be wiser than the law.
5. Natural liberty is the right which nature gives to all mankind, of
disposing of their persons and property after the manner they judge most
consonant to their happiness, on condition of their acting within the limits
of the law of nature, and that they do not in any way abuse it to the
prejudice of other men. Burlamaqui, c. 3, s. 15; 1 Bl. Com. 125.
6. Personal liberty is the independence of our actions of all other
will than our own. Wolff, Ins. Nat. Sec. 77. It consists in the power of
locomotion, of changing situation, or removing one's person to whatever
place one's inclination may direct, without imprisonment or restraint,
unless by due course of law. 1 Bl. Com. 134.
7. Political liberty may be defined to be, the security by which, from
the constitution, form and nature of the established government, the
citizens enjoy civil liberty. No ideas or definitions are more
distinguishable than those of civil and political liberty, yet they are
generally confounded. 1 Bl. Com. 6, 125. The political liberty of a state is
based upon those fundamental laws which establish the distribution of
legislative and executive powers. The political liberty of a citizen is that
tranquillity of mind, which is the effect of an opinion that he is in
perfect security; and to insure this security, the government must be such
that one citizen shall not fear another.
8. In the English law, by liberty is meant a privilege held by grant or
prescription, by which some men enjoy greater benefits than ordinary
subjects. A liberty is also a territory, with some extraordinary privilege.
9. By liberty or liberties, is understood a part of a town or city, as
the Northern Liberties of the city of Philadelphia. The same as Fanbourg.
(q.v.)
Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
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Liberty, IL (village, FIPS 43133)
Location: 39.88076 N, 91.10802 W
Population (1990): 541 (216 housing units)
Area: 0.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 62347
Liberty, IN (town, FIPS 43434)
Location: 39.63447 N, 84.92697 W
Population (1990): 2051 (888 housing units)
Area: 2.1 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 47353
Liberty, KS (city, FIPS 40250)
Location: 37.15614 N, 95.59775 W
Population (1990): 140 (63 housing units)
Area: 0.7 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 67351
Liberty, KY (city, FIPS 46072)
Location: 37.31785 N, 84.93060 W
Population (1990): 1937 (905 housing units)
Area: 4.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 42539
Liberty, ME
Zip code(s): 04949
Liberty, MO (city, FIPS 42032)
Location: 39.24205 N, 94.41911 W
Population (1990): 20459 (7645 housing units)
Area: 69.7 sq km (land), 0.1 sq km (water)
Liberty, MS (town, FIPS 40640)
Location: 31.16015 N, 90.80121 W
Population (1990): 624 (300 housing units)
Area: 5.3 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 39645
Liberty, NC (town, FIPS 38100)
Location: 35.85416 N, 79.57136 W
Population (1990): 2047 (929 housing units)
Area: 6.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 27298
Liberty, NE (village, FIPS 26980)
Location: 40.08503 N, 96.48304 W
Population (1990): 74 (44 housing units)
Area: 0.6 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 68381
Liberty, NY (village, FIPS 42224)
Location: 41.79746 N, 74.74636 W
Population (1990): 4128 (1827 housing units)
Area: 6.0 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 12754
Liberty, OK (town, FIPS 42860)
Location: 35.85872 N, 95.97720 W
Population (1990): 155 (67 housing units)
Area: 15.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Liberty, PA (borough, FIPS 43064)
Location: 40.32380 N, 79.85798 W
Population (1990): 2744 (1144 housing units)
Area: 3.7 sq km (land), 0.2 sq km (water)
Liberty, PA (borough, FIPS 43128)
Location: 41.55987 N, 77.10511 W
Population (1990): 199 (86 housing units)
Area: 1.3 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 16930
Liberty, SC (town, FIPS 41380)
Location: 34.79247 N, 82.69536 W
Population (1990): 3228 (1357 housing units)
Area: 10.6 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 29657
Liberty, TN (town, FIPS 42040)
Location: 36.00398 N, 85.97782 W
Population (1990): 391 (160 housing units)
Area: 2.7 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Liberty, TX (city, FIPS 42568)
Location: 30.04602 N, 94.79769 W
Population (1990): 7733 (3125 housing units)
Area: 92.0 sq km (land), 0.9 sq km (water)
Liberty, WV
Zip code(s): 25124
Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:
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