ABSTRACT
John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), an early English utilitarian, here defends the harm principle as the only legitimate basis for the coercive use of law to restrict individual liberty. According to Mill, the only legitimate reason to restrict the liberty of competent adults is to prevent them from harming others. Thus he rejects the use of coercive law on the bases of both paternalism and legal moralism. Instead, he offers one of the most stirring defenses of liberty ever penned.
