Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Law
    The Law
    The Law
    Ebook103 pages1 hour

    The Law

    By Frédéric Bastiat

    4.5/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    First published in 1850, “The Law” is the best known work of 19th century economist Frederic Bastiat, a prominent member of the French Liberal School. A forerunner to the Austrian School of Economics, the French Liberal School was a major proponent of the laissez-faire capitalistic system. Bastiat advocated for unregulated free markets and against protectionism. At the heart of Bastiat’s philosophy was an opposition against the redistribution of wealth by the government, which he refers to as “legal plunder”, for any reason. In Bastiat’s opinion the sole purpose of the government was to protect personal property and liberty. Influenced by John Locke’s “Second Treatise on Government”, this short little book may seem extreme in its defense of personal property by today’s standards. Bastiat in fact opposes such commonly accepted modern day practices as public education. Bastiat’s absolutist position is understood when one learns of his personal history, his father’s estate was acquired during the French Revolution. While history may ultimately deem Bastiat as nothing more than a reactionary, his contribution to modern economics, which includes the concept of opportunity cost, and his influence on modern political economy cannot be overstated. This edition follows the translation of Dean Russell.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigireads.com Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2017
    ISBN9781420954982

    Read more from Frédéric Bastiat

    Related to The Law

    Related ebooks

    Economics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Rules for Radicals

      Apr 1, 2017

      Rules for Radicals
      20 min read

    • Article

      MAKE or BREAK

      Nov 28, 2019

      MAKE or BREAK
      8 min read

    • Article

      Bill Of Rights Matters

      Oct 11, 2020

      Bill Of Rights Matters
      4 min read

    • Article

      Evolution Is Never a Straight Line: The Millions Interviews Douglas R. Burgess Jr.

      Mar 1, 2022

      Donald Trump remains one of the greatest threats to human rights and progress since Adolf Hitler. But he is also an old man who will die soon. What matters most is that we do not allow the contagion of his nihilism to infect our foreign policy. The p

      7 min read

    • Article

      Beyond The Veil Of Ignorance

      Apr 22, 2019

      Beyond The Veil Of Ignorance
      4 min read

    • Article

      Seeing The State Through "For A New Liberty"

      Apr 9, 2024

      The central chapter of Murray Rothbard’s For a New Liberty is “The State.” The central moment of that chapter is when Rothbard tells us that “if you wish to know how libertarians regard the State and any of its acts, simply think of the State as a cr

      21 min read

    • Article

      The Enfranchisement Of Women

      Jul 30, 2018

      The Enfranchisement Of Women
      6 min read

    • Article

      Rule Of Law Must Be Upheld In South Africa & The Nations At Large

      Jul 30, 2021

      What is the Rule of Law? The Rule of law guarantees the equality of all individuals in society. It is based on the principle that every person is equal before the law and the law must be applied equally without fear or favour. The Rule of Law must be

      2 min read

    • Article

      Adam Smith, Sociality, and Classical Liberalism

      Jul 25, 2023

      Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments ([1759] 1853; hereafter TMS), a treatise on psychology, preceded his foundational work in economics, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Smith ([1776] 1904; hereafter WN). His sec

      9 min read

    • Article

      The Limits Of The Common Good

      May 22, 2022

      The polarisation of societies across the world has been painful for many of us. It’s sometimes split families, other times whole nations. Among the opposing views have been a gamut of different perspectives on how much or how little control we should

      3 min read

    • Article

      Covid Holds Lessons For Pursuit Of Social Justice

      Apr 25, 2021

      IT IS commonly believed that the Covid-19 recovery period is a great global reset moment. Indeed the global reset narrative was the buzz phrase during the latest World Economic Forum in Davos. But truth be told, in South Africa, the great reset momen

      4 min read

    • Article

      Covid Holds Lessons For Pursuit Of Social Justice

      Apr 25, 2021

      IT IS commonly believed that the Covid-19 recovery period is a great global reset moment. Indeed the global reset narrative was the buzz phrase during the latest World Economic Forum in Davos. But truth be told, in South Africa, the great reset momen

      4 min read

    • Article

      President Donald J. Trump Proclaims December 10, 2017, as Human Rights Day; December 15, 2017, as Bill of Rights Day; and the week beginning December 10, 2017, as Human Rights Week

      Dec 8, 2017

      HUMAN RIGHTS DAY, BILL OF RIGHTS DAY, AND HUMAN RIGHTS WEEK, 2017   - - - - - - -   BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA   A PROCLAMATION Our great country was forged in the fires of a revolution to overthrow the rule of a tyrant,

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Absolute Terror Of Total Freedom

      Aug 27, 2021

      It can be disappointing, even disorientating, when you start to learn that ‘freedom’ doesn’t really mean freedom, at least not absolutely. These days, whenever I feel too happy, I scroll through the comments sections on social media posts about the C

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Law

    4.5/5

    206 ratings7 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      A classic view of politics. This is another book that our current politicians should read carefully. Bastiat was absolutely correct when he said that "Law is justice" and that its primary purpose should be protect rights and not to dictate actions.
    • 5/5
      One of the fundamental 19th century texts for understanding why communism and socialism are total failures and wholly and irretrievably immoral in application. Bastiat describes the basis for stable government, and explains why liberty is tied to theological, economic, and political ideas.
    • 2/5
      I was greatly greatly disappointed by this audio book. Like most writings of the 19th century I have read lately, this one was clearly written for an audience with a much larger attention span, and much more educated than the average 21st century American. I felt like Bastiat kept repeating the same thing over and over again. I'm not sure how much of this is true, and how much of this was the fact that I learned this particular MP3 CD exposed a bug in the radio in my VW. At one point, I learned, that my CD starts over at 27 minutes into the track regardless of where it left off. However, the fact it took several ignition cycles for me to figure this out indicates how uninteresting this book was. I had high hopes, I had friends indicate to me that this was the great Catholic Anarchinst novel. Bastiat i wouldn't take to be an anarchist after "reading" this and although he may be a Catholic, he didn't seem to be much of one either. I can some up this whole book as, the law is only valid if it protects individual rights, that what ever other libertarian says, nothing "new" here.
    • 5/5
      Filled to the brim with bright wonderful words. Bastiat is a shining example to all ages. Sets the thinking gears in motion on what are laws, and why do they eist, and what is our relation to them.
    • 3/5
      Bastiat's "La Loi" is undoubtedly an interesting read, for those already of a libertarian-dispostion, and for others curious about the ideas and arguments of those who advocate a limited government. The arguments put across by Bastiat, however, did not win me round to the completely libertarian way of thinking.The book is certainly short, serving more as an introduction to the ideas of liberty, property and the role of government. However, the style the book is written in makes it difficult to pick out some of the more complex arguments, and makes the book quite boring at times. However, it is worth reading as the actual essay is fairly short.
    • 5/5
      This is a formative, classic work. If you are into politics, do yourself a favor and read it ASAP. This is really a light-weight primer to libertarianism, and yet it is very powerful and heavy-duty at the same time. If more people would read (and adopt) these ideas, I think our political environment would slowly move in the right direction!
    • 4/5
      Bastiat's most important work was probably "The Law." Published in the year of his death, it is a concise formulation of the case for classic liberalism, and a stern warning against the dark clouds of socialism that were descending upon Europe, particularly after the great upheavals of 1848.Bastiat begins by clarifying the proper role of law in an enlightened Liberal society: the preservation of life, liberty, and property:"If every person has the right to defend--even by force--his person, his liberty, and his property, then it follows that a group of men have the right to organize and support a common force to protect these rights constantly. Thus the principle of collective right--its reason for existing, its lawfulness--is based on individual right. And the common force that protects this collective right cannot logically have any other purpose or any other mission than that for which it acts as a substitute."Bastiat explains how the collectivist agitation sweeping Western Europe in the mid nineteenth century sought to use the law for purposes well outside its purview. In a passage that sounds like it was written today, he laments this unfortunate turn of events:"The law has been used to destroy its own objective: It has been applied to annihilating the justice that it was supposed to maintain; to limiting and destroying rights which its real purpose was to respect. The law has placed the collective force at the disposal of the unscrupulous who wish, without risk, to exploit the person, liberty, and property of others. It has converted plunder into a right, in order to protect plunder. And it has converted lawful defense into a crime, in order to punish lawful defense."One of the causes of this perversion of the law, says Bastiat, is greed. To satisfy his needs, man must labor. But needs can also be met by resorting to plunder, i.e., appropriating the fruits of someone else's labor. Socialism is nothing but generalized plunder, where groups who feel aggrieved enter the political process with the goal of using the law to steal from those they consider to be their oppressors.What are the consequences of this trend?"It would require volumes to describe them all. Thus we must content ourselves with pointing out the most striking. In the first place, it erases from everyone's consciousness the distinction between justice and injustice...The nature of the law is to maintain justice. This is so much the case that, in the minds of the people, law and justice are one and the same thing. There is in all of us a strong disposition to believe that anything lawful is also legitimate. This belief is so widespread that many persons have erroneously held that things are "just" because law makes them so. Thus, in order to make plunder appear just and sacred to many consciences, it is only necessary for the law to decree and sanction it."Bastiat's words bring to mind the contemporary wave of legislation and adjudications in the realm of affirmative action. This is one of our own highly-developed methods of legal plunder, and it has done much to "erase from everyone's conscience the distinction between justice and injustice."Taking the perversion of law to its logical extreme, Bastiat declares:"By what right does the law force me to conform to the social plans of Mr. Mimerel, Mr. de Melun, Mr. Thiers, or Mr. Louis Blanc? If the law has a moral right to do this, why does it not, then, force these gentlemen to submit to my plans? Is it logical to suppose that nature has not given me sufficient imagination to dream up a utopia also? Should the law choose one fantasy among many, and put the organized force of government at its service only?"On page after page, Bastiat picks apart socialist ideology, revealing its arrogance and its true intentions. I was particularly struck by the following passage, which carried the heading, "The Socialists Wish to Play God":Socialists look upon people as raw material to be formed into social combinations. This is so true that, if by chance, the socialists have any doubts about the success of these combinations, they will demand that a small portion of mankind be set aside to experiment upon. The popular idea of trying all systems is well known. And one socialist leader has been known seriously to defend that the Constituent Assembly give him a small district with all its inhabitants, to try his experiments upon.I conclude with Bastiat's clarion call for classic liberalism:"Look at the entire world. Which countries contain the most peaceful, the most moral, and the happiest people? Those people are found in the countries where the law least interferes with private affairs; where government is least felt; where the individual has the greatest scope, and free opinion the greatest influence; where administrative powers are fewest and simplest; where taxes are lightest and most nearly equal, and popular discontent the least excited and the least justifiable; where individuals and groups most actively assume their responsibilities, and, consequently, where the morals of admittedly imperfect human beings are constantly improving; where trade, assemblies, and associations are the least restricted..."

    Book preview

    The Law - Frédéric Bastiat

    cover.jpg

    THE LAW

    By FREDERIC BASTIAT

    Translated by DEAN RUSSELL

    The Law

    By Frederic Bastiat

    Translated by Dean Russell

    Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-5497-5

    eBook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-5498-2

    This edition copyright © 2017. Digireads.com Publishing.

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

    Cover Image: a detail of The Tax Collector, c. 1543 (oil on canvas), Paul Vos (fl.1543) / Galleria Sabauda, Turin, Italy / Bridgeman Images.

    Please visit www.digireads.com

    CONTENTS

    The Law

    Life Is a Gift from God

    What Is Law?

    A Just and Enduring Government

    The Complete Perversion of the Law

    A Fatal Tendency of Mankind

    Property and Plunder

    Victims of Lawful Plunder

    The Results of Legal Plunder

    The Fate of Non-Conformists

    Who Shall Judge?

    The Reason Why Voting Is Restricted

    The Answer Is to Restrict the Law

    The Fatal Idea of Legal Plunder

    Perverted Law Causes Conflict

    Slavery and Tariffs Are Plunder

    Two Kinds of Plunder

    The Law Defends Plunder

    How to Identify Legal Plunder

    Legal Plunder Has Many Names

    Socialism Is Legal Plunder

    The Choice Before Us

    The Proper Function of the Law

    The Seductive Lure of Socialism

    Enforced Fraternity Destroys Liberty

    Plunder Violates Ownership

    Three Systems of Plunder

    Law Is Force

    Law Is a Negative Concept

    The Political Approach

    The Law and Charity

    The Law and Education

    The Law and Morals

    A Confusion of Terms

    The Influence of Socialist Writers

    The Socialists Wish to Play God

    The Socialists Despise Mankind

    A Defense of Compulsory Labor

    A Defense of Paternal Government

    The Idea of Passive Mankind

    Socialists Ignore Reason and Facts

    Socialists Want to Regiment People

    A Famous Name and an Evil Idea

    A Frightful Idea

    The Leader of the Democrats

    Socialists Want Forced Conformity

    Legislators Desire to Mold Mankind

    Legislators Told How to Manage Men

    A Temporary Dictatorship

    Socialists Want Equality of Wealth

    The Error of the Socialist Writers

    What Is Liberty?

    Philanthropic Tyranny

    The Socialists Want Dictatorship

    Dictatorial Arrogance

    The Indirect Approach to Despotism

    Napoleon Wanted Passive Mankind

    The Vicious Circle of Socialism

    The Doctrine of the Democrats

    The Socialist Concept of Liberty

    Socialists Fear All Liberties

    The Superman Idea

    The Socialists Reject Free Choice

    The Cause of French Revolutions

    The Enormous Power of Government

    Politics and Economics

    Proper Legislative Functions

    Law and Charity Are Not the Same

    The High Road to Communism

    The Basis for Stable Government

    Justice Means Equal Rights

    The Path to Dignity and Progress

    Proof of an Idea

    The Desire to Rule Over Others

    Let Us Now Try Liberty

    The Law

    The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!

    If this is true, it is a serious fact, and moral duty requires me to call the attention of my fellow-citizens to it.

    Life Is a Gift from God

    We hold from God the gift which includes all others. This gift is life—physical, intellectual, and moral life.

    But life cannot maintain itself alone. The Creator of life has entrusted us with the responsibility of preserving, developing, and perfecting it. In order that we may accomplish this, He has provided us with a collection of marvelous faculties. And He has put us in the midst of a variety of natural resources. By the application of our faculties to these natural resources we convert them into products, and use them. This process is necessary in order that life may run its appointed course.

    Life, faculties, production—in other words, individuality, liberty, property—this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it.

    Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.

    What Is Law?

    What, then, is law? It is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense.

    Each of us has a natural right—from God—to defend his person, his liberty, and his property. These are the three basic requirements of life, and the preservation of any one of them is completely dependent upon the preservation of the other two. For what are our faculties but the extension of our individuality? And what is property but an extension of our faculties?

    If every person has the right to defend even by force—his person, his liberty, and his property, then it follows that a group of men have the right to organize and support a common force to protect these rights constantly. Thus the principle of collective right—its reason for existing, its lawfulness—is based on individual right. And the common force that protects this collective right cannot logically have any other purpose or any other mission than that for which it acts as a substitute. Thus, since an individual cannot

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1