For Immanuel Kant
(1724–1804)
freedom is the unique and individual human right. Nevertheless it is possible to derive other individual rights
from this primal right, e.g. the right to equality before the law.
The task of the state, which legitimates its “power” , consists in the safeguarding of the rights of freedom and the
guarantee of legal relationships. At the same time, however, the laws of the state are to be measured by democratic principles.