Variously quoted: "Everything which is not forbidden is allowed" is a constitutional principle of English law—an essential freedom of the ordinary citizen or subject. The converse principle—"everything which is not allowed is forbidden"—used to apply to public authorities, whose actions were limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law.[1] The restrictions on local authorities were lifted by the Localism Act 2011 which granted a "general power of competence" to local authorities.