Comment by hutzlibu

"But that doesn't mean freedom or flexibility for citizens. "

It does, because if laws want to cover every case, they need to be so verbatim and rule out so many possibilities, that in the end, every action is encoded in law, which will result in people only doing things that are explicitely allowed. That limits a lot.

Simple example, despite being an adult, I like to climb trees. And sometimes also in parks. So I had discussions with officials or or wannabe officials about: is this allowed? It turns out, there is no rule allowing it. But there is also usually no rule forbidding it. But most people default to, if it is not explicitely allowed, it must be forbidden (which is a very german thing, but is not unique to us).

Michael de Montagne, a old french philosopher who is also quoted around this thread, put it way better in words. I try to find the passage.