Laissez-Faire and Individual Right

The latent basis of Laissez-Faire principles is easier to expose when the doctrine is expressed as 'Free Market' principles.  In that formulation, 'Freedom' is ascribed to Market processes, perhaps to the Invisible Hand.  But, the common invoking by Free-Marketers of a Private-Public distinction--to defend private transactions from public interference--points to the ground of that 'Freedom'.  For example, attempts to regulate the tobacco industry have been often challenged on the basis that what they intrude upon is a consensual relationship between seller and buyer.  In other words, if there is a decisive Freedom in such a transaction, it is that of the buyer, i. e. to decide whether or not to accept the risks of tobacco use, as well as that of the seller.  Accordingly, regulation of the selling of those products is a Public violation of the Right to sell them in a Private context.  Now, that argument becomes minimized by the further evidence of harmful effects of the product that exceed that context, e. g. second-hand exposure, general medical and insurance costs, etc.  But, as is, it reveals the basis of the Freedom attributed to the Market by Laissez-Faire principles--that of individual participants to seek Profit.  In other words, it is derived from the concept of Individual Right that is a staple of Modern Political Philosophy.