The issuance of thousands of quarantine orders duringthe SARS outbreak raised difficult questions aboutthe legitimacy of using restrictive measures in democratic societies. This inquirycombines empirical research with conceptualscholarship to establish foundational justificatorypower for restrictive interventions, which thedominant utilitarian justification lacks. It isargued that, to respect rights, while being committedto the common good, we must move beyond thesee-sawing between ostensibly competing requirementstoward a conception that gives equal weight to public health and human rights;...