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Old 16th October 2000 | 16:47
  #33 (permalink)  
Lawyerboy
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I'm firmly with Hugmonster on this one. All fundamental freedoms - your right to do as you wish, effectively - are restricted by the basic requirement to ensure that what you want to do doesn't impinge on others' fundamental freedoms. As Hugmonster's already said, my right to say precisely what I want to say is tempered by your right not to be subjected to, say, racial hatred.

Somewhere along the line, in any civilised society, a balance has to be struck between everyones' competing interests. What I want won't necessarily be compatible with what you want; how do we deal with that?

Whilst some English laws aren't perfect, they do represent - to a certain extent, at least - where it is we as a society wish those lines to be drawn. As society evolves those lines tend to move, and laws move with them, and although not everyone agrees with every little detail, it's a start.