John Stuart Mill’s famous “harm principle” has been popular in the limitation of freedoms within human rights jurisprudence. It has been used formally in court cases and also informally in legal argumentation and conversation. Shortly, it is described as a very simple principle that amounts to the notion that persons are at liberty to do what they want as long as their actions do not harm any other person or society in general. This article questions whether it is legitimate to (...) use the harm principle in cases concerning the limitation of religious freedom within education. For example, can the exemption of a learner from sex education be denied based on the argument that such an exemption will cause harm? In order to answer this question, the meaning, origin and use of the harm principle are investigated. This article also discusses four main criticisms against the use of this principle in general and in cases of religious freedom of learners in education. (shrink)

One of the overriding interests of the literature on health care economics is to discover where personal choice in market economies end and corrective government intervention should begin. Our study addresses this question in the context of John Stuart Mill’s utilitarian principle of harm. Our primary objective is to determine whether public policy interventions concerning more than 35,000 online pharmacies worldwide are necessary and efficient compared to traditional market-oriented approaches. Secondly, we seek to determine whether government interference could enhance personal (...) utility maximization, despite its direct and indirect costs on medical e-commerce. This study finds that containing the negative externalities of medical e-commerce provides the most compelling raison d’etre of government interference. It asserts that autonomy and paternalism need not be mutually exclusive, despite their direct and indirect consequences on individual choice and decision-making processes. Valuable insights derived from Mill’s principle should enrich theory-building in health care economics and policy. (shrink)