The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Introduction
• Foreword
• 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 Book and Author
• The Translation
• About the Publisher

The Law and Morals

You say: “Here are persons who are lacking in morality or religion,” and you turn to the law. But law is force. And need I point out what a violent and futile effort it is to use force in the matters of morality and religion?

It would seem that socialists, however self-complacent, could not avoid seeing this monstrous legal plunder that results from such systems and such efforts. But what do the socialists do? They cleverly disguise this legal plunder from others—and even from themselves—under the seductive names of fraternity, unity, organization, and association. Because we ask so little from the law—only justice—the socialists thereby assume that we reject fraternity, unity, organization, and association. The socialists brand us with the name individualist.

But we assure the socialists that we repudiate only forced organization, not natural organization. We repudiate the forms of association that are forced upon us, not free association. We repudiate forced fraternity, not true fraternity. We repudiate the artificial unity that does nothing more than deprive persons of individual responsibility. We do not repudiate the natural unity of mankind under Providence.