hayek [em "the constitution of liberty"]

"If we look once more at the elementary contrast between freedom
and slavery, we see clearly that the negative character of
freedom in no way diminishes its value. We have already mentioned
that the sense in which we use the word is its oldest meaning.
It will help to fix this meaning if we glance at the actual difference
that distinguished the position of a free man from that
of a slave. We know much about this so far as the conditions in .
the oldest of free communities - the cities of ancient Greece - are
concerned. The numerous decrees for the freeing of slaves that
have been found give us a clear picture of the essentials. There
were four rights which the attainment of freedom regularly conferred.
The manumission decrees normally gave the former slave,
first, "legal 'status as a protected member of the community";
second, "immunity from arbitrary arrest"; third, the "right to
work at whatever he desires to do"; and,' fourth, "the right to
movement according to his own choice."

This list contains most of what in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries were regarded as the essential conditions of freedom. It
omits the right to own property only because EVEN THE SLAVE COULD DO SO.
With the addition of this right, it contains all the elements
required to protect an individual against coercion"