James Buchanan offers a strikingly innovative approach to a pervasive problem of social philosophy. The problem is one of the classic paradoxes concerning man"s freedom in society: in order to protect individual freedom, the state must restrict each person"s right to act. Employing the techniques of modern economic analysis, Professor Buchanan reveals the conceptual basis of an individual"s social rights by examining the evolution and development of these rights out of presocial conditions.