Editing Harm principle (section)

== Legal applications ==

=== Historical examples ===
The harm principle is found in article 5 of the first English-language constitution from 1647: [[An Agreement of the People|"An Agreement of the People for a firme and present Peace, upon grounds of common right and freedome...."]], presented to the Army Council, E. 412, 21. October 28, 1647:
{{Blockquote|That the laws ought to be equal, so they must be good and not evidently destructive to the safety and well-being of the people.|}}

The harm principle is found in Articles 4 and 5 of the first French constitution (and first nationally adopted constitution) from 1789: [https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/sites/default/files/as/root/bank_mm/anglais/cst2.pdf Declaration of Human and Civic Rights of 26 August 1789]:

{{Blockquote|Liberty consists in being able to do anything that does not harm others: thus, the exercise of the natural rights of every man has no bounds other than those that ensure to the other members of society the enjoyment of these same rights. These bounds must be determined only by Law. The Law has the right to forbid only those actions that are injurious to society. Nothing that is not forbidden by Law may be hindered, and no one may be compelled to do what the Law does not ordain.|}}

One might rightly argue that the "pursuit of Happiness" mentioned in the [[United States Declaration of Independence|1776 US Declaration of Independence]] was one of the "tastes and pursuits" that Mill had in mind:

{{Blockquote|We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness . . . |}}

==== Restrictions ====
In [[On Liberty]], J. S. Mill writes that his principle does not apply to persons judged as mentally ill, "[[barbarian]]s" (which he assimilated to minors) and minors<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Monahan |first1=J. |date=December 1977 |title=John Stuart Mill on the liberty of the mentally ill: a historical note |url=http://psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/ajp.134.12.1428 |journal=American Journal of Psychiatry |language=en |volume=134 |issue=12 |pages=1428–1429 |doi=10.1176/ajp.134.12.1428 |issn=0002-953X |pmid=335904|url-access=subscription }}</ref> while the ''[[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]]'' did not concern women, slaves, foreigners and minors, as they were not citizens.

Modern interpretations of the principle often does not make distinction of race or sex.

=== In modern policy ===
The harm principle is also found in recent US case law - in the case of the [https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/4th/27/1161.html People v Alvarez], from the Supreme Court of California, in May, 2002:

{{Blockquote|In every criminal trial, the prosecution must prove the corpus delicti, or the body of the crime itself - i.e., the fact of '''injury, loss, or harm,''' and the existence of a criminal agency as its cause.|}}

The harm principle even found its way into [https://www.akzept.org/pdf/volltexte_pdf/nr23/drogenpo_inter/tnItrends_latam0110.pdf the drug laws of Colombia], in 1994, and again in 2009:

{{Blockquote|In July 2009, the Colombian Supreme Court of Justice reconfirmed the 1994 ruling of the Constitutional Court by determining that the possession of drugs for personal use 'cannot be the object of any punishments,' when the incident occurred 'in the exercise of his personal and private rights, [and] the accused did not harm others.|}}

Even if a self-regarding action results in harm to oneself, it may still be considered beyond the sphere of justifiable state coercion.{{Anchor|The harm principle in US libertarianism}}

==== Libertarianism ====
The belief "that no one should be forcibly prevented from acting in any way he chooses provided his acts are not invasive of the free acts of others" has become one of the basic principles of libertarian politics.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC |title=The Encyclopaedia of Libertarianism |date=2008 |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |isbn=978-1412965804 |editor-last=Hamowy |editor-first=Ronald |location=Thousand Oaks, California |page=xxi}}</ref>

The [[Libertarian Party (United States)|US Libertarian Party]] includes a version of the harm principle as part of its official [[party platform]]. It states:{{Blockquote|Criminal laws should be limited in their application to violations of the rights of others through force or fraud, or to deliberate actions that place others involuntarily at significant risk of harm. Therefore, we favor the repeal of all laws creating “crimes” without victims . . .<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lp.org/platform/|title=2016 Platform|publisher=Libertarian National Committee|year=2016|access-date=25 February 2017}}</ref>}}