John Stuart Mill was a prominent English jurist who had written extensively on individual liberty and individual rights. He was among the first jurists who emphasized the importance of individualism when people largely think and write about the common good and the greater good of society. Mill believed in a school of thought which can be described as 'Liberal Utilitarianism' according to which the common good for the greatest number of people had to be achieved keeping in mind the individual rights of the people and their liking and disliking.

The core principle of Mill's idea on individual liberty revolves around the fact that individuals should have the freedom to express their opinions and act upon the same freely without the fear of dissent until they encroach upon other people's rights and do any harm to them. They should possess the right to disagree with the popular or majority opinion without any fear of repercussions. This would result in the ultimate growth and development of the society because of the diversity of opinions and ideas present before the people which would encourage the future generation to come up with more creative and unique ideas which would address the future problems of the society.

Mill Strongly believed and propagated throughout his life that individuals must not succumb to the pressure to fit in with society cause every human possesses his own consciousness and thought process which when coupled with the power of will very well challenge the existing ideas and have potential to bring an altogether new societal order which is hundred times better than the existing one.

There is no such thing as being more resourceful and more intelligent when a person simply cannot apply his mind and energy to solve new problems. He further said that it is better to come up with new ideas which may fail in future than to copy or imitate other ideas which had failed many civilizations in History like the Byzantine Empire.

Mill Said those Pastors and other elites had throughout history tried to blend individuals in the moulds of pre-established customs and traditions so that they could rule over them with ease. Men were not supposed to question the duty assigned to them because they were the words of god and denying them would be a sin. This is also known as Calvinistic theory. But individuals who had raised above all these had done great things in history. Earlier people were freer and more daring to try different things which according to Mill now had decreased drastically in this modern society where people are expected to be mere machines expecting no creativity out of them.

Even people who work in these systems do not think about what they want or what they are capable of but think about what society wants or expects them to do. But in reality, people are not machines but a tree which is capable of bearing sweet fruits in the future if nurtured and taken care of in the present. Hence a miniscule amount of people who wanted to go out of the way to try something new must always be taken care of by the government and the sovereign of the nation-states.

Mill said that everyone should respect others' opinions cause god has made everyone different and expects that everyone uses their own will to live his/her own life. Without intellect and constant struggle, the world would have become a stagnant pool. Suppressing individualism thinking it would harm others is not a good idea cause maybe in the short run it would stop hurting the system and the Societal order but in the longer run it would affect the society and the people in a negative way. All that being said it does not mean that mediocre or average people should be sidelined or people should worship the person of intellect which is bad both for that individual and the society.

Instead, the world requires a delicate balance of both of these people to grow in the future. In case a conflict of interest arises should be settled keeping in mind the interest of both parties. Similarly disregard for the custom should not be the norm in any society cause it would disrupt the whole societal order instead forcing everyone to fit into this norm is something which is both discouraged and dangerous in case the custom is detrimental to the society like the Chinese Lady Foot custom.

Mill takes the example of the East which once the East used to be the epicenter of knowledge and wisdom. It had many unique customs and traditions which the people used to follow in this land. But with time these customs became obsolete and people did not adopt the new order. The West on the contrary adopted the new order and did not stick to ancestor worship. Many people used to oppose the changes but it did not stop the West from adopting pluralistic and diverse solutions in the ever-changing world order.

Individualism has been defined by different authors differently in different periods in different senses. French aristocrats and revolutionaries used the term individualism differently during the French Revolution. Revolutionaries defined it as a struggle against social injustice and the unjust order whereas the aristocracy like Alexis de Tocqueville described it as a kind of selfishness where people are only concerned about their friends and family.

In England, Individualism essentially means nonconformity with the church and financial freedom with low state interference. Individualism or individual rights are one of the key pillars in the American constitution which essentially talks about protecting the freedom and liberty of its citizens in various forms. John Locke talked about individual rights and liberty refuting the theory of the absolute control of the government over their subject and such government which failed to provide these fundamental rights should be removed by the people if necessary.

C.B. Macpherson has defined individualism as a form of possessory right where the possessor is essentially the owner of his skill and owes nothing to society. Famous philosopher and jurist Immanuel Kant recognized the importance of autonomy in an individual's life and held that freedom is important for an individual to become a 'person'.

Mill fostered the idea of individualism and liberty when conservatism and collective good were at an all-time high. While philosophers at that time like Jeremy Bentham had defined law from the state point of view holding law as a mandate and a product of the legislature Mill had gone out of his way to view law from an individual point of view. Many things which Mill said a century ago are quite relevant in today's world.

For example, freedom of speech and expression as enriched in our constitution and many other constitutions have taken inspiration from Mill's theory. The fundamental right to privacy as held in the Puttaswamy case can be traced back to the protection of autonomy of individuals. Protecting the rights of minorities like that of LGBT and transgender also falls within the ambit of Mill's theory.

In conclusion, many of the ideas and rights we enjoy and pluralism and diversity which we cherish can all be traced back to the theory of this one man-John Stuart Mill. He had influenced and continues to influence many of the contemporary writers, judges and scholars to continue to ponder upon the new dimensions of individual rights and freedom.