Abstract: In Étienne de la Boétie’s Discours de la servitude volontaire, the protean notion of natural law demonstrates that men are naturally free and are capable of escaping the animal nature to which tyranny has reduced them. It also has a more pragmatic function however, in that acting as a sign of the mutual recognition between Étienne de la Boétie, the judge, and his chosen public of men of law, it creates a distinctive moral ethos at the same time as outlining the character of its addressee.
