Abstract

Though freedom of associationfreedom of association got its name after Adam SmithSmith, Adam’s (1723–1790) time he should be thought of as an important source of the ideas involved in it. Three considerations support this: (1) he was early in identifying its legal structure and corresponding jurisprudence; (2a) he provided compelling ethical and (2b) political grounds for it; (3) his argument is interesting because, while his conclusions are comfortably liberal, the justification of them is inextricable from his rejection of a contractarian tradition and rationalist methodology that remains influential among liberals today.