This essay will explore the notion of freedom and attempt to shed light on various explanations of what freedom is. Strictly speaking, the simple and ordinary definition of freedom is “the absence of restrictions,” but how this definition is applied is much more difficult to clarify and encompasses a wide range of ideas. This essay will attempt to highlight some of these ideas by focusing primarily on the theories of Isaiah Berlin and his two different concepts of freedom, including negative and positive freedom. He will analyze the various theories of other philosophers with reference to these two distinct ideas and attempt to conclude whether the law actually limits freedom. Isaiah Berlin explains his idea of ​​negative freedom by articulating that: 'Normally I am told that I am free in the degree to which no man or group of men interferes with my activity.' Simply put, this means: "If others prevent me from doing what I would otherwise do, to that extent I am not free." This seems to suggest that any restriction imposed on an individual by any form of state authority would interfere with that person's freedom This is similar to the concept of social freedom articulated by DD Raphael, who describes it as "the absence of restrictions from other people". contemplate a world in which complete social freedom exists, since “being socially free means not placing restrictions on doing what one wants.” This is highly problematic, as if one person exercises complete social freedom; therefore effective laws are necessary in order to t...... half of the document ......t, "Sovereignty of law: freedom, constitution and common law", LQR 2014, 130 (January), 162- 165.W. Weinstein, "The concept of freedom in 19th century English political thought", Political Studies, 13 (1965), 145-62Michael Connolly, "Social mobility, education and the European Convention on Human Rights", EHRLR 2013, 2, 152 -165Charles G. Ngwena, “Reforming African Abortion Laws to Achieve Transparency: Arguments from Equality,” AJICL 2013, 21(3), 398-426P. Pettit, "A definition of negative freedom", Ratio, NS 2 (1989), 153-68. John Coggon and Jose Miola, 'Autonomy, freedom and medical decision making', CLJ 2011, 70(3), 523-547 Deborah Ogbourne and Richard Ward, 'Sterilisation, the mentally incompetent and the courts', (1989) 18(3 ) Anglo-American Law Review, 230-40CasesF v West Berkshire Health Authority [1989] 2 WLR 1025, [1990] 2 AC. 1