This essay will explore the concept of freedom and attempt to shed light on various explanations of what freedom is. Strictly speaking, the simple and ordinary definition of freedom is "freedom from constraint", but how this definition is applied is much more difficult to clarify and encompasses a wide range of ideas. This essay will attempt to shed light on 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 determine whether the law actually restricts freedom. Isaiah Berlin explains his idea of ​​negative freedom by articulating this: “I am normally said to be free to the degree to which no man or group of men interfere with my activity. In simple terms, this means: “If others prevent me from doing what I would otherwise do, I am not free to that degree.” This seems to suggest that any restriction imposed on an individual by any form of state authority would interfere with that individual's freedom. This is similar to the concept of social freedom articulated by DD Raphael, who describes it as "the absence of restraint on the part of others." This would include restrictions placed on individuals due to the law. However, it is rather impossible to envisage a world in which total social freedom would exist, because “to be socially free is to impose no restrictions on doing what one wants”. This is very problematic, as if only one person enjoyed complete social freedom; this would inevitably amount to restricting the social freedom of another person. This is just one reason why effective laws are necessary to...... middle of document ......t, "Sovereignty of Law: Liberty, Constitution and Common Law", LQR 2014 , 130 (January), 162-165.W. Weinstein, “The Concept of Liberty in Nineteenth-Century English Political Thought,” Political Studies, 13 (1965), 145-62 Michael 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 for 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, liberty and medical decision-making”, CLJ 2011, 70(3), 523-547Deborah Ogbourne and Richard Ward, “Sterilization, 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