Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) was a French economist who created most of his works surrounding the 1848 revolution when France was accelerating toward socialism. He was exposing the fallacies of socialist economics, with not very many of the population paying attention. His best (most popular) work, was The Law, written within just a few months of his passing due to tuberculosis.
The ideas and principles in the book are simply explained and hold just as much importance today, in America, as they did in late 1840’s France.
This is a short, light read (74 pages +/- depending on the version), and a quick page turner.
Highly recommended.
A few excerpts:
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 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 Complete Perversion of the Law
But, unfortunately, law by no means confines itself to its proper functions. And when it has exceeded its proper functions, it has not done so merely in some inconsequential and debatable matters. The law has gone further than this; it has acted in direct opposition to its own purpose. 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.
Whatever Happened to Justice is one of an eleven-part series of books written by Richard J. Maybury. The series is known as the ‘Uncle Eric Series’. This book was originally published in 1993.
Each chapter in the book (and series) is written form the perspective of Uncle Eric writing short notes or letters to his niece/nephew, Chris.
The book opens with the subject of Law, and its two main types: Scientific Law and Political Law, ultimately zeroing in on the Two Fundamental Laws, which form the backbone of the book.
The main body of the work is about 220 pages with another 35 pages of supplemental material, all the way through the end of the index.
It is an extremely uncomplicated read, precisely because it is written in a style to be easily understood by children and young adults. But, don’t let that fool you. The reader will obtain a solid understanding of important concepts and principles, which written in other forms are usually more mundane, or even difficult to understand.
Many quotes from historical figures are included which bolster the messages conveyed. These include Plato, Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, Spooner, Blackstone, Hobbes, and the Federalist Papers … just to name a few.
Word definitions from Black’s Law Dictionary are included as well.
After reading the book, one comes away with the sense that most, if not all, inter-human strife could be prevented or corrected if only the two fundamental laws were adhered to. The two laws really are simple to understand.
But, does the human race have the will to abide by them?
The answer to that question is up to the individual reader to decide for themselves.