On the republican view, non-arbitrary laws do not reduce freedom but can enhance it.

Evidence

What is more, on the view of liberty as non-interference, any sort of public law or policy intervention will count as an interference and, ergo, as a reduction in freedom. Liberals committed to the received view of negative liberty will thus tend to be overly hostile to government action (Pettit 1997, 2009). On the republican view, by contrast, public laws or policy interventions need not always count as reductions in freedom. Provided the law or policy is adopted and implemented in an appropriately non-arbitrary manner, the citizens’ freedom remains untouched. Indeed, if the law or policy ameliorates dependency, or curtails the arbitrary powers some in the community exercise over others, freedom may be enhanced. In the classical tradition, this idea was often expressed as the claim that, in the words of Blackstone, “laws, when prudently framed, are by no means subversive but rather introductive of liberty” and thus “where there is no law, there is no freedom” (1765, 122). — Frank Lovett, Republicanism, 47

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the core republican distinction between arbitrary interference (which violates freedom) and non-arbitrary law (which does not), against the liberal liberty-as-non-interference baseline.
• SHARE: The Blackstone line ‘where there is no law, there is no freedom’ is a compact provocation a political-theory friend would enjoy.
• corroborated: 5 independent passages support this claim — Frank Lovett, Republicanism, 47
• XREF: connects to: Republican freedom means absence of dependence on arbitrary power, not non-interference. — Frank Lovett, Republicanism, 18; Republican freedom can relate to noninterference in various distinct ways. — Frank Lovett, Republicanism, 29; Republican freedom can be equated with an extended rule of law — Frank Lovett, Republicanism, 32 (+6 more)

Related

• Republican freedom can relate to noninterference in various distinct ways. (similarity 0.88)
• Republican freedom depends on laws that constrain power without creating new domination (similarity 0.88)
• In republican theory, law itself creates freedom rather than merely restricting it (similarity 0.87)
• Republican freedom means absence of dependence on arbitrary power, not non-interference. (similarity 0.86)
• Republican freedom can be equated with an extended rule of law (similarity 0.86)
• Law that is non-arbitrary does not make citizens unfree (similarity 0.86)
• The republican tradition prized liberty as non-domination, not democratic participation (similarity 0.85)
• Laws meant to enhance freedom can themselves create new arbitrary power. (similarity 0.84)
• Republican ‘arbitrariness’ means sheer lack of control, not injustice. (similarity 0.84)
• Freedom in the republican tradition means non-domination rather than merely non-interference (similarity 0.84)
• Freedom means no one holds arbitrary power to interfere with us. (similarity 0.83)
• Blackstone held well-framed laws generate rather than restrict liberty (similarity 0.83)
• Locke regarded non-arbitrary law as enlarging rather than constraining freedom (similarity 0.83)
• Law can be non-arbitrary and freedom-preserving rather than inherently dominating (similarity 0.83)
• Restraint by fair law is compatible with freedom, unlike arbitrary sway (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• In republican theory, law itself creates freedom rather than merely restricting it #corroborates (0.95) — Frank Lovett, Republicanism, 53