On Liberty in the Context of Contemporary Constitution——From Mill to Hayek

Mill and Hayek were leaders of liberalism in their respective times whose liberal theory systems with characteristics of the times were hugely influential.The concept of liberty, from ancient Greek and Roman, closely relates to not only the liberty of body or behavior but also the liberty of thought and soul.It is worthy of discussion that in the philosophy of law, liberty only exists in the Constitution.Mill and Hayek highly valued liberty and the liberty of thought, and proposed approaches to ensure the realization of liberty in the formulation of the Constitution and policies.And in the examination of liberty in the context of the contemporary Constitution, two things should be clear.First, the Constitution is designed to preserve and protect liberty, otherwise it will be useless.Secondly, human liberty in the Constitution is controlled or restrained, for there is no absolute liberty in the law-governed society.