Liberty, safety and the legitimacy of the state
Laws should prioritise individual liberties over public safety. Do you agree or disagree?
LNAT Section B · Founder's essay plan
The essay question
Should laws prioritise individual liberties over public safety?
The plan
Stance: Agree. Laws should prioritise individual liberties over public safety, because liberty is the precondition of legitimacy. Safety is valuable, but it is a derivative good — fragile and hollow without freedom. A constitutional order that chooses safety over liberty descends into paternalism or authoritarianism.
Jurisdiction focus: UK (ECHR, Human Rights Act), US (First Amendment), with comparative nods to Germany & South Africa. Word target: 750.
Definitions
- Individual liberties: core freedoms (speech, privacy, association, movement, bodily autonomy) protected by constitutional and human rights frameworks.
- Public safety: protection from harms (crime, terrorism, pandemics, disorder).
- Prioritise: when liberty and safety conflict, liberty must prevail as the higher principle.
- Framing: Safety is instrumental; liberty is intrinsic.
Assumptions Under Challenge
Elite unlocks every founder's LNAT essay plan in full — the thesis, distinct points, steel-manned counter and the line of argument behind the model answer.
Sign up and unlock