Project Gutenberg 2014-01-30 Public domain in the USA. 585 Bastiat, Frédéric 1801 1850 Bastiat, Frederic Bastiat, Claude Frédéric La loi. English The Law Produced by David Widger from page scans generously provided by the Google Books Project, with a Creative Commons license granted by the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Auburn, Alabama "The Law" by Frédéric Bastiat is a political essay written in the mid-19th century. The work serves as a staunch defense of individual rights and the negative role of government in societal matters. Bastiat articulates the philosophy that the true purpose of law should be to protect the life, liberty, and property of individuals rather than to serve as an instrument for plundering one class for the benefit of another, a concept he describes as "legal plunder." The opening of "The Law" introduces the central argument that law, when properly functioning, is an organization of natural rights meant to defend against injustice, not to administer wealth or dictate behavior. Bastiat expresses alarm about how the law has been perverted to become a tool of avarice and exploitation instead of a protector of the rights of individuals. He emphasizes that both greed and misguided philanthropy have corrupted the legal system, leading to a societal structure where individuals or groups seek to exploit the law for personal gain. This foundational idea sets the stage for the profound exploration of justice, property, and the dangers of government interference in personal liberties that Bastiat develops throughout the essay. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Property Law -- Philosophy Justice, Administration of Law and socialism Socialism and liberty K Text Browsing: Law & Criminology Browsing: Philosophy & Ethics Browsing: Politics 175381 175389 2024-09-18T18:27:18.197810 2023-09-19T13:44:31.057981 text/html text/html 167280 2014-11-06T11:43:00 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 556956 2014-11-06T11:44:56 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 583132 2024-09-18T18:27:21.771829 application/epub+zip 584214 2024-09-18T18:27:18.918942 application/epub+zip 117129 2024-09-18T18:27:18.534827 application/epub+zip 651323 2024-09-18T18:27:23.985785 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 642118 2024-09-18T18:27:21.424798 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 175807 2022-09-20T12:52:46.584074 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 135909 135728 2024-09-18T18:27:17.661842 2023-09-19T13:44:30.575993 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 135709 2014-01-30T10:22:46 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 49764 2014-01-30T10:26:52 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 135702 2014-01-30T10:22:46 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 49715 2014-01-30T10:26:52 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 21669 2024-09-18T18:27:24.128780 application/rdf+xml 29061 2024-09-18T18:27:18.642813 image/jpeg 4477 2024-09-18T18:27:18.588806 image/jpeg 564029 2024-09-18T18:27:18.226833 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog fr.wikipedia en.wikipedia