The Law, original french title La Loi, is a 1849 book by Frédéric Bastiat. It was published one year after the third French Revolution of 1848 and one year before his death of tuberculosis at age 49. The essay was influenced by John Locke's Second Treatise on Government and in turn influenced Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson. It is the work for which Bastiat is most famous along with The candlemaker's petition and the Parable of the broken window. Frédéric Bastiat Claude Frédéric Bastiat (June 30, 1801–December 24, 1850) was a French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly. ... Up to 1848 in France As 1848 began, liberals awaited the death of King Louis Philippe, expecting revolution after his death. ... John Locke (August 29, 1632-October 28, 1704) was an influential English philosopher. ... The Two Treatises of Government (or Two Treatises of Government: In the Former, The False Principles and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, And His Followers, are Detected and Overthrown. ... Henry Hazlitt (November 28, 1894 - July 8, 1993) was a libertarian philosopher, economist and journalist for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Newsweek, among other publications. ... Economics in One Lesson is an introduction to free-market economics written by Henry Hazlitt in 1946, based on Frederic Bastiats essay Ce quon voit et ce quon ne voit pas (What is Seen and What is Not Seen). ... The parable of the broken window was created by Frédéric Bastiat in his 1850 essay That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen to illuminate the notion of hidden costs ( opportunity costs). ...

In The Law, Bastiat states that "each of us has a natural right — from God — to defend his person, his liberty, and his property". The State is a "substitution of a common force for individual forces" to defend this right. The law becomes perverted when it punishes one's right to self-defense in favor of anothers acquired right to plunder.

Bastiat defines two forms of plunder: "stupid greed and false philanthropy". Stupid greed is "protective tariffs, subsidies, guaranteed profits" and false philanthropy is "guaranteed jobs, relief and welfare schemes, public education, progressive taxation, free credit, and public works". Monopolism and Socialism are legalized plunder which Bastiat emphasizes is legal but not legitimate.

Justice has precise limits but philanthropy is limitless and government can grow endlessly when that becomes its function. The resulting statism is "based on this triple hypothesis: the total inertness of mankind, the omnipotence of the law, and the infallibility of the legislator". The relationship between the public and the legislator becomes "like the clay to the potter". Bastiat says, "I do not dispute their right to invent social combinations, to advertise them, to advocate them, and to try them upon themselves, at their own expense and risk. But I do dispute their right to impose these plans upon us by law—by force—and to compel us to pay for them with our taxes". ^[1] Statism (or Etatism) is a very loose and often derogatory term that is used to describe: Specific instances of state intervention in personal, social or economic matters. ...

Contemporaries mentioned complimentary in The Law

• Charles Forbes René de Montalembert
• Pierre Carlier
• William Penn

Charles Forbes René de Montalembert Charles Forbes René de Montalembert (March 18, 1810 - March 13, 1870), was a French publicist and historian. ... William Penn William Penn (October 14, 1644 – July 30, 1718) founded the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the British North American colony that became the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. ...

Contemporaries mentioned disparagingly in The Law

• Charles Dupin
• Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
• François Fénelon
• Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Guillaume Thomas François Raynal
• Gabriel Bonnot de Mably
• Étienne Bonnot de Condillac
• Louis de Saint-Just
• Maximilien Robespierre
• Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne
• Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau
• Morelly
• François-Noël Babeuf
• Robert Owen
• Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon
• Charles Fourier
• Louis Blanc
• Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
• Étienne Cabet
• Pierre Laurent Barthélemy, comte de Saint-Cricq
• Viscount André de Melun
• Adolphe Thiers
• Victor Prosper Considérant

-1... Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, Hyacinthe Rigaud, Louvre Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (September 27, 1627 - April 12, 1704) was a French bishop, theologian, and renowned pulpit orator and court preacher. ... François de Salignac de la Mothe, more commonly known as François Fénelon (1651 - 1715), was a French Roman Catholic theologian, poet and writer. ... Montesquieu in 1728. ... Jean-Jacques Rousseau (June 28, 1712 – July 2, 1778) was a Genevan philosopher of the Enlightenment whose political ideas influenced the French Revolution, the development of socialist theory, and the growth of nationalism. ... Guillaume Thomas François Raynal (April 12, 1713 – March 6, 1796) was a French writer. ... Gabriel Bonnot de Mably Gabriel Bonnot de Mably (Grenoble, March 14, 1709 – April 2, 1785 in Paris), sometimes known as Abbé de Mably, was a French philosopher and politician. ... Étienne Bonnot de Condillac. ... Antoine Louis Léon de Richebourg de Saint-Just (August 25, 1767 - July 28, 1794), usually referred to simply as Saint-Just, was a French revolutionary leader. ... Anonymous Portrait of Maximilien Robespierre c. ... Jacques Nicolas Billaud-Varenne (April 23, 1756 - June 3, 1819) was a French revolutionary. ... Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau (sometimes rendered as Louis Michel Lepelletier de Saint-Fargeau; 1760 – 1793) was a French politician. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... François-Noël Gracchus Babeuf François-Noël Babeuf (November 23, 1760 - May 27, 1797), known as Gracchus Babeuf (in tribute to the Roman reformers, the Gracchi, and used alongside his self-designation as Tribune), was a French political agitator and journalist of the Revolutionary period. ... Robert Owen (May 14, 1771 – November 17, 1858) was a Welsh socialist and social reformer. ... Henri de Saint-Simon Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon, often referred to as Henri de Saint-Simon (October 17, 1760 – May 19, 1825), the founder of French socialism, was born in Paris. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Louis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc (October 29, 1811 - December 6, 1882), was a French politician and historian. ... Pierre Joseph Proudhon. ... Étienne Cabet ( January 1, 1788 – November 9, 1856) was a French philosopher and utopian socialist. ... Melun is a French city and commune on the river Seine, about 50 km south-southeast of Paris. ... A caricature of Adolphe Thiers charging on the Paris Commune, published in Le Père Duchêne illustré Louis Adolphe Thiers (April 16, 1797–September 3, 1877) was a French statesman and historian. ... Victor Prosper Considerant (1808–1893) was a French Socialist and disciple of Fourier; founded the colony La Reunion in Texas on Fouriers principles, which proved a failure; wrote much in advocacy of his principles, of which the most important is La Destinee Sociale. ...

English translations

• Patrick James Stirling Translation, 1874
• Seymour Cain translation, 1994
• Dean Russell translation, 1998, introduction by Walter E. Williams and foreword by Sheldon Richman
• Audio version of Russell translation

Walter E. Williams (born 1936) is an American economist. ... Sheldon Richman is editor of The Freeman, the magazine published by The Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington, New York, senior fellow at The Future of Freedom Foundation, and a Research Fellow at The Independent Institute. ...

Notes

1. ^ All quotations are from the Dean Russell translation of The Law [1]