Law (& Taxes)

Thanks to those of you who still check in on this poor, oft neglected blog. It’s not that I don’t want to write, it’s just a matter of time and priorities. And yeah, sometime an old episode of ‘The Simpson’s’ often ranks higher than this blog. Other times, I’d rather just read. It’s good for the overworked mind to take time off from time to time. Unfortunately, it’s also at those times that I’ll stumble across a book that gives my mind no quarter. (In this case I didn’t stumble, I was directed, but regardless the point remains…)

And since my mind is stuck thinking about what I’m reading, I’d thought I share it with you. Here’s a tidbit from the book I’m reading now:

The nature of law is to maintain justice. This is so much the case that, in the minds of the people, law and justice are one in the same thing. This is in all of us a strong disposition to believe that anything lawful is also legitimate. This belief is so widespread that many persons have erroneously held that things are “just” because law makes them so. Thus, in order to make [legal] plunder appear just and sacred to many consciences, it is only necessary for the law to decree and sanction it. Slavery, restrictions, and monopoly find defenders not only among those who profit from them but also among those who suffer from them.

I have always had a problem equating law and justice. It’s in my genes, I think, to immediately be weary of the law – especially if it’s new or designed in any way to ‘help’ other people. And that passage above pretty much reinforces my prejudice. Especially when you juxtapose it with this one:

Life, liberty and property do not exist because man has made laws. On the contrary, it is the fact that life, liberty and property existed beforehand that caused man to make laws in the first place.

Laws were created to ‘protect’ life, liberty and property – not help, make fair or redistribute wealth.

If you’ve recognized the quotes and know the book, you’ll realize I’m only on page 9. This could be fun…

Update: I just read this. Perhaps Chirac needs to read a book written by one of his countrymen some 155 years ago…

Update 2: Because Jadewolff asked - here's the link to the book - Frederic Bastiat, The Law. I'm not done with it yet (it's so small you could read it in an hour if you're fast) because it keeps making me think. I'm not sure what the practical applications are of this book in today's world, but it's interesting to see how we've strayed off course since this was written in 1850.