The Law

Written nearly two centuries ago, this book is as relevant now as it was at the time of writing. Whether you agree or disagree with Bastiats point of view, this is a great pamphlet to read. It is short, well-structured, and strikingly clear and straightforward. If you want to read just one book on politics and economics, read this one and you wont regret it. If you agree with the book, it will give you one of the strongest arguments to defend your position. If you disagree with the book, it will give you plenty of food for thought. For most of history the law of the land had some religious backing. This is no longer true in the modern world, and this is where Bastiat picks up his argument. The first question that he tries to answer : if not God, what is the source from which the law derives its authority? Bastiats answer: the authority comes from the people, the individuals. But if you derive your authority from individuals, rather than deity, then the limitations of those individuals define boundaries beyond which the law cannot be applied. Ask yourself two questions: is every human being born with a right of being an individual? and should the right of one person being an individual supercede the same right of another? Bastiat answers yes to the first and no to the second and thats where the pamphlet begins. This idea at the core of the book: the law that is based on the power of individuals has limitations. Bastiat speaks mostly of economic violations of that rule - the legal plunder. Those who lived in the next century could point to something far graver - millions of lives taken by socialist tyrants, all within the framework of the law. While some would object that violence against a persons property is not the same as violence against the persons life and liberty, Bastiat argues that the two are related. Towards the end of the book the author makes another important observation: the arrogance of the social engineers is not a consequence of their status or their actions - its a prerequisite. Through a number of examples (and that number only increased in the years since the book was written) Bastiat shows how those who attempt to mold manking through laws view themselves as a breed apart from the rest of humanity. Many things were said about hubris of lawmakers, but few are as logical and eloquent. Plenty of books were written on the topic since and many arguments made on both sides of the divide. Why The Law? First, its one thing to know that the argument against uncontrolled legislation is decades old, its quite another to actually observe the same argument made decades ago. Second, some can write a book that appeals to their contemporaries, but only a few can write a book that transcends their time. Bastiat is one of the latter. Finally, this book is short, well-structured, clear, straightforward, thought-provoking, and as relevant now as it was 160 years ago. Read it, and see for yourself.

The Law by Frederic Bastiat is perhaps the clearest and most logically founded explanation of the proper role of the law (government) in society I have yet read, and it is clearly in the same constellation of thought in which you will find the luminary ideas of our nations own brilliant founding. Writing on his deathbed and freshly after the events of the 1848 revolutions, although the logic and consequences of his ideas are timeless, appears to have sharpened his mind and imparts this book with a profoundness and sagacity beyond its 106 short pages. The simple central concept that shines throughout, familiar to Americans and certainly inspired by 1776, is that individuals have natural rights to life, liberty, and to property, which is the fruit of their efforts and faculties. Injustice is any violation of these rights, and the only just purpose of the law is their protection. As nature gave us the ability to defend these rights for ourselves, law is only their organized defense in the society. At the core of the logic of his thought is a practical model of human behavior, one clearly developed by his background as an exporter. (The Law is his seminal work, his previous works were on economics.) He states A science of economics must be developed before a science of politics can be logically formulated. Essentially, economics is the science of determining whether the interests of human beings are harmonious or antagonistic. This must be known before a science of politics can be formulated to determine the proper functions of government. Implicit in his reasoning is that once the organized monopoly on force inherent in government is wielded only to protect each individuals naturally endowed rights, human interests are harmonious and no further extension of the law is necessary. Human nature and interests are not inherently nor completely harmonious of course, necessitating the need for law in the first place. The vices he clearly identifies in human nature which must be guarded against are based in mans tendency to live and prosper at the expense of others, or plunder. This vice ranges from the hard vice of illegal plunder, represented by anything from a petty theft conducted by an individual to the expansionist conquest undertaken by a whole people, to the softer sounding vice of legal plunder in which the law has been perverted to take from one class and give to another a positive right (i.e. to education, or health care, or housing) in the name of false philanthropy. Positive rights, which can only be produced by someone elses labor, come only with the destruction of naturally endowed negative rights as the law -force- cannot produce goods, cannot enlighten, cannot heal and cannot clothe by its mere existence. For the law to create these things it is only by use of force to coerce others to do them or take from their labor. This legal plunder sets up war of class against class, union against employer, trade against trade, as each races to beat the other in using the unchecked power of government to favor them. As simple proof of this he points out how no mob or lobbyist has ever rioted a police station in demand for a benefit, instead they storm the legislature where legal plunder can be drafted into law. Socialism is at the heart of trying to provide positive rights and thus perverting the law towards instituting legal plunder. It was also at the heart of the 1848 revolutions, and it is not surprising then that his arguments against it receive the lions share of this work. There are many parallels in his arguments against socialism applicable today, due to the unwavering nature of man over time. Bastiat describes in concise detail the pitfalls, traps, and false assumptions behind socialism, even in its most well intentioned and noble forms. Besides the inability of the law to create positive rights by fiat the largest false assumption is the inertness and malleability of men. That law is needed to create society, to socially engineer a mass of beings that can be formed by force and whom left to their own devices would slide into greed, destitution, and misery. This is at the heart of the Utopian fantasy which is so infectious to mens souls yet so ultimately poisonous. For if the natural tendencies of men are so poor, Bastiat asks us, how is it that the organizers of the law, the legislators, can be relied upon to be of a higher and better nature, pointing out the ironic self contradiction behind socialist and utopian engineering. Men are neither lifeless beings waiting for instruction from the law, man existed and developed before the law was created, nor are they so vile as to need the law to guide them in their lives and build their society for them, otherwise the cruel trick of mans cold nature would leave the development of good civil societies impossible. He shows how contradictions are not only inherent but central to socialism, and how socialism inevitably leads to tryanny and often to dictatorship. He also shows how faith in a free society, one in which government does not extend into providing education, health care, etc. is consistent with religious faith in how God made mans nature, and draws an interesting comparison between how modern secular societies are seeming to ineluctably move away from classical liberty and towards socialism. In another interesting flourish Bastiat also predicted how slavery would threaten to destroy the American republic before the Civil War, perhaps not an earth shattering prediction of the time but one he explains with an elegant degree of logic. An amazing work which should be read by anyone interested in liberty, natural rights, philosophy, and the state of government. Each page rings with insight and reason for which you will be the better for having read.

My Niece teaches in a Home School Group and her young students read this book. They also read Shakespeare and perform in Shakespeare plays as young as 8... Our Education System needs an Overhaul. Here is a good start.

This proto-libertarian writing by Bastiat stands along with Alexis de Tocqueville as the greatest 19th century political writing contributions to our country. Bastiat is easier to read and much faster. The whole of it in a sitting can be trying to read, though it did sparkle throughout. In any event, Bastiats view would likely be a libertarianism that few would suggest today. For example, even most modern libertarians and conservatives with libertarian streaks like lead-free paint. He might say it interferes with individual property and liberty rights. I really do not know where he would hold on that because though it would interfere with private property, but lead paint clearly was a threat to us, particularly small children and a 20th century Bastiat might appreciate it. Heres a taste of Bastiat I copied onto my computer: Law was the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense. [T]he common force that protects this collective right cannot logically have any other purpose or any other mission that that for which it acts as a substitute. Thus, since an individual cannot lawfully use force against the person, liberty, or property of another individual, then the common force—for the same reason—cannot lawfully be used to destroy the person, liberty, or property of individuals or groups. The law has been perverted by the influence of two entirely different causes: stupid greed and false philanthropy. . . [E]very time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. . . We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want to religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain. Like or love it? Youll like or love him. Offended and love Obamacare and federal governments growth? You will think he is a proto-wing-nut.

This was recommended by Mark Moss via his YouTube channel, and I must say, that I regret not knowing about this dynamite of a book sooner. Read this, then view the world, knowing why it is, as it is.

I first encountered and read this extraordinary book when an adult student taking a course in American history and the development of its Judeo-Christian legal system in the mid 1980s. The Law and the courses other required reading, The Making of America: The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, (W. Cleon Skousen, author) absolutely and dramatically changed my path as an American citizen. They provided me a core education in my nation and many aspects of world history that either had not been taught to me or had fallen on deaf ears. (I fear the former more true.) I understand that Civics as a required course for high school graduation is a subject long obsolete. In 2020, we may well reconsider what is required from those who teach our progeny. I cannot rightly offer an eloquent critique of The Law but to advise you to get it, read it (even with a good dictionary or thesarus at hand), keep a permanent copy, and give one to those who seek your vote. (For them, you may give pop quizes.

The Law is a name that doesnt turn a person on to read this book. The book itself is a reflection of our present day culture that is in need of a renewal of the values that this nation once held dear. As a young man I heard men that I looked up to say things like the lord willing we will have a good crop . These were men who were not church going people but the culture praised hard work,truth,and generally values that dealt with having good character. Women were respected and children protected from bad language and men had honor. The present generation and the ones that came before have been on a slow downward path that this man MR. Bastiat is warning his nation France about . Our nation was the greatest nation ever to bring a people to real freedom but we have lost it to the desire for free stuff and we no longer have a love for the things we create with the work of our hands. If the culture will return to the founders values there is hope. I am 73 and dont think it will happen in my life time, but could if The Law written by Frederic Bastiat were to be in braced by the home ,the church, and the government there would be hope.

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Perfect! I only wish that I could have this tattooed in reverse on the forehead of every elected whore in Congress... so that it might be the first thing and the last thing that they see and read every day. For such a short work to contain so much concise and righteous expression is rare. Everyone should read and re-read this work. I still send a copy to every new legislator that represents me upon their taking office. Still havent seen or heard one that seemed like they ever bothered to read it, but I keep trying anyway. Buy and share this book! It should be a staple of everyones home library.

One of the best books Ive ever read. Bastiat highlighted in 1849 the exact plights and issues of our time in regard to the collusion of special interests and government to the detriment of us all. Bastiat also in this short work defines man in the pursuit of life, liberty and property and makes the most succinct and effective arguments against socialism then and now. A life-changing book. If every American or human being on Earth were aware of the information in this book the world would be a much different place, a much better place. I cant recommend the book too much!