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 Basis for Stable Government

Law is justice. In this proposition a simple and enduring government can be conceived. And I defy anyone to say how even the thought of revolution, of insurrection, of the slightest uprising could arise against a government whose organized force was confined only to suppressing injustice.

Under such a regime, there would be the most prosperity—and it would be the most equally distributed. As for the sufferings that are inseparable from humanity, no one would even think of accusing the government for them. This is true because, if the force of government were limited to suppressing injustice, then government would be as innocent of these sufferings as it is now innocent of changes in the temperature.

As proof of this statement, consider this question: Have the people ever been known to rise against the Court of Appeals, or mob a Justice of the Peace, in order to get higher wages, free credit, tools of production, favorable tariffs, or government-created jobs? Everyone knows perfectly well that such matters are not within the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals or a Justice of the Peace. And if government were limited to its proper functions, everyone would soon learn that these matters are not within the jurisdiction of the law itself.

But make the laws upon the principle of fraternity—proclaim that all good, and all bad, stem from the law; that the law is responsible for all individual misfortunes and all social inequalities—then the door is open to an endless succession of complaints, irritations, troubles, and revolutions.