by Bastiat
[Title Page and Publication Information]: Title page and publication details for the 1996 edition of Frederic Bastiat's 'The Law', including names of translators and contributors. [The Definition of Law and Natural Rights]: Bastiat defines law as the collective organization of the individual right to self-defense. He argues that life, liberty, and property are gifts from God that precede human legislation, and that the only legitimate purpose of law is to protect these pre-existing rights rather than to destroy them. [The Ideal Government and the Perversion of Law]: This section describes the characteristics of a just and enduring government, emphasizing non-intervention in private affairs and the natural development of social needs. Bastiat contrasts this ideal with the 'complete perversion' of the law, where the state is used to annihilate justice and convert plunder into a right. [The Origins of Property and Plunder]: Bastiat explores the 'fatal tendency' of mankind to satisfy desires with the least effort, leading to the origin of plunder as an alternative to labor. He explains that when the law is controlled by a dominant class, it becomes a weapon of injustice used to facilitate plunder rather than stop it. [Universal Suffrage and the Consequences of Legal Plunder]: Bastiat analyzes how legal plunder erases the distinction between justice and injustice in the public conscience. He critiques the concept of universal suffrage, arguing that political conflicts over the right to vote arise primarily because the law has been diverted from its proper protective function to a tool for redistributing wealth. [The United States, Slavery, and Tariffs]: Using the United States as an example, Bastiat identifies slavery and tariffs as the only two issues endangering public peace because they represent the law acting as a plunderer. He argues that as long as the law violates property, everyone will struggle to participate in its making to either protect themselves or join the plunder. [Defining and Identifying Legal Plunder]: Bastiat provides a simple test for identifying legal plunder: checking if the law takes from some to give to others. He classifies various state interventions—tariffs, subsidies, and public schools—as forms of socialism and argues that the only way to settle the issue is to choose between limited plunder, universal plunder, or no plunder at all. [The Seductive Lure of False Philanthropy]: Bastiat critiques the 'seductive lure' of using law for philanthropic purposes. He argues that legally enforced fraternity destroys liberty and justice, and that socialists wrongly accuse proponents of limited government of being against education, religion, or equality simply because they oppose state-enforced versions of these things. [The Responsibility of Government and Economic Science]: Bastiat discusses the enormous and dangerous burden placed on government when it is held responsible for the prosperity and morality of the people. He asserts that a science of economics (determining if human interests are harmonious) must precede the science of politics to define the proper limits of law. [The Road to Communism and the Solution in Liberty]: Bastiat warns that extending law beyond justice into the realms of fraternity and philanthropy leads inevitably to communism. He concludes that the solution to human relationship problems is found in liberty, where the law is restricted to the administration of universal justice, allowing mankind to follow its natural, God-given inclinations.
Title page and publication details for the 1996 edition of Frederic Bastiat's 'The Law', including names of translators and contributors.
Read full textBastiat defines law as the collective organization of the individual right to self-defense. He argues that life, liberty, and property are gifts from God that precede human legislation, and that the only legitimate purpose of law is to protect these pre-existing rights rather than to destroy them.
Read full textThis section describes the characteristics of a just and enduring government, emphasizing non-intervention in private affairs and the natural development of social needs. Bastiat contrasts this ideal with the 'complete perversion' of the law, where the state is used to annihilate justice and convert plunder into a right.
Read full textBastiat explores the 'fatal tendency' of mankind to satisfy desires with the least effort, leading to the origin of plunder as an alternative to labor. He explains that when the law is controlled by a dominant class, it becomes a weapon of injustice used to facilitate plunder rather than stop it.
Read full textBastiat analyzes how legal plunder erases the distinction between justice and injustice in the public conscience. He critiques the concept of universal suffrage, arguing that political conflicts over the right to vote arise primarily because the law has been diverted from its proper protective function to a tool for redistributing wealth.
Read full textUsing the United States as an example, Bastiat identifies slavery and tariffs as the only two issues endangering public peace because they represent the law acting as a plunderer. He argues that as long as the law violates property, everyone will struggle to participate in its making to either protect themselves or join the plunder.
Read full textBastiat provides a simple test for identifying legal plunder: checking if the law takes from some to give to others. He classifies various state interventions—tariffs, subsidies, and public schools—as forms of socialism and argues that the only way to settle the issue is to choose between limited plunder, universal plunder, or no plunder at all.
Read full textBastiat critiques the 'seductive lure' of using law for philanthropic purposes. He argues that legally enforced fraternity destroys liberty and justice, and that socialists wrongly accuse proponents of limited government of being against education, religion, or equality simply because they oppose state-enforced versions of these things.
Read full textBastiat discusses the enormous and dangerous burden placed on government when it is held responsible for the prosperity and morality of the people. He asserts that a science of economics (determining if human interests are harmonious) must precede the science of politics to define the proper limits of law.
Read full textBastiat warns that extending law beyond justice into the realms of fraternity and philanthropy leads inevitably to communism. He concludes that the solution to human relationship problems is found in liberty, where the law is restricted to the administration of universal justice, allowing mankind to follow its natural, God-given inclinations.
Read full text