It is well to state explicitly at the outset that the society considered in this essay is the sovereign democratic state, that is, a modern Western nation, where law is made and enforced by a responsible government within the context of representative institutions. Only a free society living under democratic government confronts or deals with social problems—problems of and for society as a unit. It is assumed that public opinion is committed to the general ideal of a practical maximum of individual freedom and freedom of association, hence to a minimum of enforced or “jural” law, prescribing or restricting personal conduct. That is, it holds to the ideal of association by free agreement or assent, subject to the state and its laws. The concepts are imprecise, and to make them workable and definite is a major function of law and government.

The field of association to be chiefly considered here is that of “economic” relations. In the form now prevalent in the Western world, free economic association is a historical novelty, in origin closely intertwined with democracy or political freedom. It will be argued that these and other modes of freedom are in fact inseparable aspects of “liberal” culture. “Liberal” culture arose through a radical and historically swift transformation of the order which prevailed in mediaeval Western Europe. Without looking farther back in history, what is important is the antithetical character in essential respects of mediaeval and contemporary society in their structure and operation and in their accepted ideals.