November 1, 2022 • 13 mins
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Section nine. I shall now resumethe subject by remarking that immediately after the
economical part of the question and beforethe political part, a leading question presents
itself. It is the following.What is law? What ought it to
be? What is its domain?What are its limits? Where, in
(00:22):
fact does the prerogative of the legislatorsstop. I have no hesitation in answering.
Law is common force organized to preventinjustice. In short, law is
justice. It is not true thatthe legislator has absolute power over our persons
and property, since they pre existand his work is only to secure them
(00:45):
from injury. It is not truethat the mission of the law is to
regulate our consciences, our ideas,our will, our education, our sentiments,
our works, our exchanges, ourgifts, our enjoyment. Its mission
is to prevent the rights of onefrom interfering with those of another in any
(01:06):
one of these things. Law,because it has force for its necessary sanction,
can only have the domain of force, which is justice. And as
every individual has a right to therecourse to force only in case of lawful
defense, so collective force, whichis only the union of individual forces,
(01:26):
cannot be rationally used for any otherend. The law, then, is
solely the organization of individual rights thatexisted before a law. Law is justice,
so far from being able to oppressthe people or to plunder their property,
even for a philanthropic end. Itsmission is to protect the people and
(01:49):
to secure to them the possession oftheir property. It must not be said,
either that it may be philanthropic solong as it abstains from all oppression,
for this is a tradition. Thelaw cannot avoid acting upon our persons
and property. If it does notsecure them, then it violates them if
it touches them. The law isjustice. Nothing can be more clear and
(02:14):
simple, more perfectly defined and bounded, or more visible to every eye.
For justice is a given quantity,immutable and unchangeable, and which admits of
neither increase nor diminution. Depart fromthis point make the law religious, fraternal,
equalizing, industrial, literary, orartistic, and you will be lost
(02:38):
in vagueness and uncertainty. You willbe upon unknown ground, in a forced
utopia, or what is worse,in the midst of a multitude of contending
utopias, each striving to gain possessionof the law and to impose it upon
you. For fraternity and philanthropy haveno fixed limits as justice has. Where
(03:00):
will you stop? Where is thelaw to stop? One person, mister
de Saint Creek, will only extendhis philanthropy to some of the industrial classes,
and will require the law to slightthe consumers in favor of the producers.
Another, like mister Considerant, willtake up the cause of the working
classes and claim for them, bymeans of the law, at a fixed
(03:23):
strate clothing, lodging, food,and everything necessary for the support of life.
A third, mister Louis Blanc,will say, and with reason,
that this would be an incomplete fraternity, and that the law ought to provide
them with tools of labor and education. A fourth will observe that such an
arrangement still leaves room for inequality,and that the law ought to introduce into
(03:46):
the most remote hamlets luxury, literatureand the arts. This is the high
road to communism. In other words, legislation will be, as it now
is, the battlefield for everybody's dreamand everybody's covetousness. Law is justice.
In this proposition, we represent toourselves a simple, immovable government, and
(04:10):
I defy anyone to tell me whencethe thought of a revolution and insurrection,
or a simple disturbance could arise againsta public force confined to the repression of
injustice. Under such a system,there would be more well being, and
this well being would be more equallydistributed. And as to the sufferings inseparable
from humanity, no one would thinkof accusing the government of them, for
(04:34):
it would be as innocent of themas it is of the variations of the
temperature. Have the people ever beenknown to rise against the court of appeals
or assail the justices of the peacefor the sake of claiming the rate of
wages, free credit, tools oflabor, the advantages of the tariff,
or the social worship. They knowperfectly well that these matters are beyond the
(04:58):
jurisdiction of the justice justices of thepeace, and they would soon learn that
they are not within the jurisdiction ofthe law. Quite as much. But
if the law were to be madeupon the principle of fraternity, if it
were to be proclaimed that from itprecedes all benefits and all evils, that
it is responsible for every individual grievanceand for every social inequality, then you
(05:23):
open the door to an endless successionof complaints irritations, troubles, and revolutions.
Law is justice, and it wouldbe very strange if it could properly
be anything else. Is not justice? Right? Are not rights equal?
With what show of right? Canthe law interfere to subject me to the
(05:43):
social plans of messieurs me'morrel de Melune, Thiers or Louis Blanc, rather than
to subject these gentlemen to my plans? Is it to be supposed that nature
has not bestowed upon me sufficient imaginationto invent a utopia? Too? Is
it for the law to make choiceof one amongst so many fancies and to
make use of the public force inits service? Law is justice, And
(06:11):
let it not be said, asit continually is, that the law in
this sense would be atheistic, individualand heartless, and that it would mold
mankind in its own image. Thisis an absurd conclusion, quite worthy of
the governmental infatuation which sees mankind inthe law. What then, does it
follow that if we are free,we shall cease to act? Does it
(06:35):
follow that if we do not receivean impulse from the law, we shall
receive no impulse at all? Doesit follow that if the law confines itself
to securing to us the free exerciseof our faculties, our faculties will be
paralyzed. Does it follow that ifthe law does not impose upon us forms
(06:56):
of religion and modes of association,methods of education, rules for labor,
directions for exchange, and plans forcharity, we shall plunge headlong into atheism,
isolation, ignorance, misery, andgreed. Does it follow that we
shall no longer recognize the power andgoodness of God, that we shall cease
(07:16):
to associate together, to help eachother, to love and assist our unfortunate
brethren, to study the secrets ofnature, and to aspire after perfection In
our existence. Law is justice,And it is under the law of justice,
under the reign of right, underthe influence of liberties, security,
(07:36):
stability, and responsibility, that everyman will attain to the fullness of his
worth, to all the dignity ofhis being, and that mankind will accomplish
with order and with calmness. Slowly, it is true, but with certainty
the progress ordained for it. Ibelieve that my theory is correct. For
(07:57):
whatever be the question upon which Iam arguing, whether it be religious,
philosophical, political, or economical,whether it affects well being, morality,
equality, right, justice, progress, responsibility, property, labor, exchange,
capital, wages, taxes, population, credit, or government. At
(08:18):
whatever point of the scientific horizon Istart from, I invariably come to the
same thing. The solution of thesocial problem is in liberty. And have
I not experienced on my side?Cast your eye over the globe. Which
are the happiest, the most moral, and the most peaceable nations? Those
(08:41):
where the law interferes the least withprivate activity, Where the government is the
least felt, where individuality has themost scope and public opinion the most influence.
Where the machinery of the administration isthe least important and the least complicated,
Where taxation is lightest and least unequal, popular discontent the least excited and
(09:05):
least justifiable. Where the responsibility ofindividuals and classes is the most active,
and who are consequently, if moralsare not in a perfect state at any
rate, they tend incessantly to correctthemselves. Where transactions, meetings, and
associations are the least fettered, Wherelabor, capital, and production suffer the
(09:26):
least from artificial displacements. Where mankindfollows most completely its own natural course,
where the thought of God prevails themost over the inventions of men, Those
in short, who realize the mostnearly this idea, that within the limits
of right, all should flow fromthe free, perfectible, and voluntary action
(09:48):
of man, nothing to be attemptedby the law or by force, except
the administration of universal justice. Icannot avoid coming to this conclusion that there
are too many great men in theworld. There are too many legislators,
organizers, institutors of society, conductorsof the people, fathers of nations,
(10:09):
etc. Etc. Too many personsplace themselves above mankind to rule and patronize
it. Too many persons make atrade of looking after it. It will
be answered, you yourself are occupiedupon it all this time. Very true,
But it must be admitted that itis in another sense entirely that I
(10:30):
am speaking, And if I jointhe reformers, it is solely for the
purpose of inducing them to relax theirhold. I am not doing as Vaccusson
did with his automation, but asa physiologist does with the human frame.
I would study and admire it.I am acting with regard to it in
the spirit that animated a celebrated travelerhe found himself in the midst of a
(10:52):
savage tribe. A child had justbeen born, and a crowd of soothsayers,
magicians, and quack were around it, armed with rings, hooks,
and bandages. One said, thischild will never smell the perfume of a
caliumate unless I stretch his nostrils.Another said he will be without the sense
of hearing unless I draw his earsdown to his shoulders. A third said
(11:16):
he will never see the light ofthe sun unless I give his eyes an
oblique direction. A fourth said hewill never be upright unless I bend his
legs. A fifth said he willnot be able to think unless I press
his brain. Stop, said thetraveler, whatever God does is well done.
(11:37):
Do not pretend to know more thanhe. And as He has given
organs to this frail creature, allowthose organs to develop themselves, to strengthen
themselves by exercise, use, experience, and liberty. God has implanted in
mankind also all that is necessary toenable it to accomplish its destinies. There
(11:58):
is a pidential social physiology as wellas a providential human physiology. The social
organs are constituted so as to enablethem to develop harmoniously in the grand air
of liberty. Away then with quacksand organizers, Away with their rings and
their chains, and their hooks andtheir pinchers, Away with their artificial methods.
(12:22):
Away with their social laboratories, theirgovernmental whims, their centralization, their
tariffs, their universities, their statereligions, their inflationary are monopolizing banks,
their limitations, their restrictions, theirmoralizations, and their equalization by taxation.
(12:43):
And now, after having vainly inflictedupon the social body so many systems,
let them end where they ought tohave begun. Reject all systems, and
try liberty, liberty which is anact of faith in God and in his
work. End of section nine.And this is the end of the law.
(13:07):
By Frederick Bastia
Section nine. I shall now resumethe subject by remarking that immediately after the
economical part of the question and beforethe political part, a leading question presents
itself. It is the following.What is law? What ought it to
be? What is its domain?What are its limits? Where, in
(00:22):
fact does the prerogative of the legislatorsstop. I have no hesitation in answering.
Law is common force organized to preventinjustice. In short, law is
justice. It is not true thatthe legislator has absolute power over our persons
and property, since they pre existand his work is only to secure them
(00:45):
from injury. It is not truethat the mission of the law is to
regulate our consciences, our ideas,our will, our education, our sentiments,
our works, our exchanges, ourgifts, our enjoyment. Its mission
is to prevent the rights of onefrom interfering with those of another in any
(01:06):
one of these things. Law,because it has force for its necessary sanction,
can only have the domain of force, which is justice. And as
every individual has a right to therecourse to force only in case of lawful
defense, so collective force, whichis only the union of individual forces,
(01:26):
cannot be rationally used for any otherend. The law, then, is
solely the organization of individual rights thatexisted before a law. Law is justice,
so far from being able to oppressthe people or to plunder their property,
even for a philanthropic end. Itsmission is to protect the people and
(01:49):
to secure to them the possession oftheir property. It must not be said,
either that it may be philanthropic solong as it abstains from all oppression,
for this is a tradition. Thelaw cannot avoid acting upon our persons
and property. If it does notsecure them, then it violates them if
it touches them. The law isjustice. Nothing can be more clear and
(02:14):
simple, more perfectly defined and bounded, or more visible to every eye.
For justice is a given quantity,immutable and unchangeable, and which admits of
neither increase nor diminution. Depart fromthis point make the law religious, fraternal,
equalizing, industrial, literary, orartistic, and you will be lost
(02:38):
in vagueness and uncertainty. You willbe upon unknown ground, in a forced
utopia, or what is worse,in the midst of a multitude of contending
utopias, each striving to gain possessionof the law and to impose it upon
you. For fraternity and philanthropy haveno fixed limits as justice has. Where
(03:00):
will you stop? Where is thelaw to stop? One person, mister
de Saint Creek, will only extendhis philanthropy to some of the industrial classes,
and will require the law to slightthe consumers in favor of the producers.
Another, like mister Considerant, willtake up the cause of the working
classes and claim for them, bymeans of the law, at a fixed
(03:23):
strate clothing, lodging, food,and everything necessary for the support of life.
A third, mister Louis Blanc,will say, and with reason,
that this would be an incomplete fraternity, and that the law ought to provide
them with tools of labor and education. A fourth will observe that such an
arrangement still leaves room for inequality,and that the law ought to introduce into
(03:46):
the most remote hamlets luxury, literatureand the arts. This is the high
road to communism. In other words, legislation will be, as it now
is, the battlefield for everybody's dreamand everybody's covetousness. Law is justice.
In this proposition, we represent toourselves a simple, immovable government, and
(04:10):
I defy anyone to tell me whencethe thought of a revolution and insurrection,
or a simple disturbance could arise againsta public force confined to the repression of
injustice. Under such a system,there would be more well being, and
this well being would be more equallydistributed. And as to the sufferings inseparable
from humanity, no one would thinkof accusing the government of them, for
(04:34):
it would be as innocent of themas it is of the variations of the
temperature. Have the people ever beenknown to rise against the court of appeals
or assail the justices of the peacefor the sake of claiming the rate of
wages, free credit, tools oflabor, the advantages of the tariff,
or the social worship. They knowperfectly well that these matters are beyond the
(04:58):
jurisdiction of the justice justices of thepeace, and they would soon learn that
they are not within the jurisdiction ofthe law. Quite as much. But
if the law were to be madeupon the principle of fraternity, if it
were to be proclaimed that from itprecedes all benefits and all evils, that
it is responsible for every individual grievanceand for every social inequality, then you
(05:23):
open the door to an endless successionof complaints irritations, troubles, and revolutions.
Law is justice, and it wouldbe very strange if it could properly
be anything else. Is not justice? Right? Are not rights equal?
With what show of right? Canthe law interfere to subject me to the
(05:43):
social plans of messieurs me'morrel de Melune, Thiers or Louis Blanc, rather than
to subject these gentlemen to my plans? Is it to be supposed that nature
has not bestowed upon me sufficient imaginationto invent a utopia? Too? Is
it for the law to make choiceof one amongst so many fancies and to
make use of the public force inits service? Law is justice, And
(06:11):
let it not be said, asit continually is, that the law in
this sense would be atheistic, individualand heartless, and that it would mold
mankind in its own image. Thisis an absurd conclusion, quite worthy of
the governmental infatuation which sees mankind inthe law. What then, does it
follow that if we are free,we shall cease to act? Does it
(06:35):
follow that if we do not receivean impulse from the law, we shall
receive no impulse at all? Doesit follow that if the law confines itself
to securing to us the free exerciseof our faculties, our faculties will be
paralyzed. Does it follow that ifthe law does not impose upon us forms
(06:56):
of religion and modes of association,methods of education, rules for labor,
directions for exchange, and plans forcharity, we shall plunge headlong into atheism,
isolation, ignorance, misery, andgreed. Does it follow that we
shall no longer recognize the power andgoodness of God, that we shall cease
(07:16):
to associate together, to help eachother, to love and assist our unfortunate
brethren, to study the secrets ofnature, and to aspire after perfection In
our existence. Law is justice,And it is under the law of justice,
under the reign of right, underthe influence of liberties, security,
(07:36):
stability, and responsibility, that everyman will attain to the fullness of his
worth, to all the dignity ofhis being, and that mankind will accomplish
with order and with calmness. Slowly, it is true, but with certainty
the progress ordained for it. Ibelieve that my theory is correct. For
(07:57):
whatever be the question upon which Iam arguing, whether it be religious,
philosophical, political, or economical,whether it affects well being, morality,
equality, right, justice, progress, responsibility, property, labor, exchange,
capital, wages, taxes, population, credit, or government. At
(08:18):
whatever point of the scientific horizon Istart from, I invariably come to the
same thing. The solution of thesocial problem is in liberty. And have
I not experienced on my side?Cast your eye over the globe. Which
are the happiest, the most moral, and the most peaceable nations? Those
(08:41):
where the law interferes the least withprivate activity, Where the government is the
least felt, where individuality has themost scope and public opinion the most influence.
Where the machinery of the administration isthe least important and the least complicated,
Where taxation is lightest and least unequal, popular discontent the least excited and
(09:05):
least justifiable. Where the responsibility ofindividuals and classes is the most active,
and who are consequently, if moralsare not in a perfect state at any
rate, they tend incessantly to correctthemselves. Where transactions, meetings, and
associations are the least fettered, Wherelabor, capital, and production suffer the
(09:26):
least from artificial displacements. Where mankindfollows most completely its own natural course,
where the thought of God prevails themost over the inventions of men, Those
in short, who realize the mostnearly this idea, that within the limits
of right, all should flow fromthe free, perfectible, and voluntary action
(09:48):
of man, nothing to be attemptedby the law or by force, except
the administration of universal justice. Icannot avoid coming to this conclusion that there
are too many great men in theworld. There are too many legislators,
organizers, institutors of society, conductorsof the people, fathers of nations,
(10:09):
etc. Etc. Too many personsplace themselves above mankind to rule and patronize
it. Too many persons make atrade of looking after it. It will
be answered, you yourself are occupiedupon it all this time. Very true,
But it must be admitted that itis in another sense entirely that I
(10:30):
am speaking, And if I jointhe reformers, it is solely for the
purpose of inducing them to relax theirhold. I am not doing as Vaccusson
did with his automation, but asa physiologist does with the human frame.
I would study and admire it.I am acting with regard to it in
the spirit that animated a celebrated travelerhe found himself in the midst of a
(10:52):
savage tribe. A child had justbeen born, and a crowd of soothsayers,
magicians, and quack were around it, armed with rings, hooks,
and bandages. One said, thischild will never smell the perfume of a
caliumate unless I stretch his nostrils.Another said he will be without the sense
of hearing unless I draw his earsdown to his shoulders. A third said
(11:16):
he will never see the light ofthe sun unless I give his eyes an
oblique direction. A fourth said hewill never be upright unless I bend his
legs. A fifth said he willnot be able to think unless I press
his brain. Stop, said thetraveler, whatever God does is well done.
(11:37):
Do not pretend to know more thanhe. And as He has given
organs to this frail creature, allowthose organs to develop themselves, to strengthen
themselves by exercise, use, experience, and liberty. God has implanted in
mankind also all that is necessary toenable it to accomplish its destinies. There
(11:58):
is a pidential social physiology as wellas a providential human physiology. The social
organs are constituted so as to enablethem to develop harmoniously in the grand air
of liberty. Away then with quacksand organizers, Away with their rings and
their chains, and their hooks andtheir pinchers, Away with their artificial methods.
(12:22):
Away with their social laboratories, theirgovernmental whims, their centralization, their
tariffs, their universities, their statereligions, their inflationary are monopolizing banks,
their limitations, their restrictions, theirmoralizations, and their equalization by taxation.
(12:43):
And now, after having vainly inflictedupon the social body so many systems,
let them end where they ought tohave begun. Reject all systems, and
try liberty, liberty which is anact of faith in God and in his
work. End of section nine.And this is the end of the law.
(13:07):
By Frederick Bastia
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