UPSC Prelims 2018— Question 40

**Concept and analysis:** The relationship between law and liberty in constitutional political theory is not simply inverse. Law can restrain arbitrary coercion and create a framework within which rights and freedoms are protected. The statement that without laws there is no liberty captures the idea that ordered liberty requires enforceable rules and institutions; the other formulations are too absolute or conceptually incomplete. The question is testing precise UPSC-level identification rather than a broad association. The key is to distinguish the exact institutional, constitutional, historical, geographical, economic or scientific feature being asked. **Option-wise evaluation** **Option A:** Incorrect. if there are more laws, there is less liberty. is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **Option B:** Correct. If there are no laws, there is no liberty. directly matches the concept or factual identification established in the analysis. **Option C:** Incorrect. If there is liberty, laws have to be made by the people. is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **Option D:** Incorrect. If laws are changed too often, liberty is in danger. is a different institution, place, definition, proposition or description and does not satisfy the specific requirement of the question. **UPSC takeaway:** The safest way to solve this type of question is to anchor the answer in the defining feature of the concept and then test every option against that feature. Closely related institutions or terms are often used as distractors. In statement-based questions, do not judge the option as a whole before checking each statement independently. In factual questions, compare the wording of each option with the exact definition, location, institutional role, chronology or scientific property. The correct answer follows from that verification rather than from familiarity with a keyword.