Book review: The Law
La Loi (The Law) is a book about legal theory written by Frédéric Bastiat. In The Law, Bastiat analyzes the role that law has played in society, compared with its original purpose: to act as a shield against injustice, and thereby defend the natural rights to life, liberty, and property. He examines various government policies that have acted to do more than this, and shows that such actions lead to infringements upon individual rights.
Bastiat identifies two main ideological causes of such actions: stupid greed and false philanthropy. He shows that it is man’s nature to resort to crime when it is profitable to do so, and that the law becomes a tool for the commission of crime when enough people can convince a government to plunder on their behalf. He then points out a fundamental flaw of democratic government: when it is time for an election, the people are held up as experts on all important matters, but after the election, the people are viewed as little more than clay to be molded by politicians. Bastiat goes on to show that various government programs to help people ignore what people could have done to help themselves without government interference.
Bastiat’s view of God and religion may be off-putting to atheists, and his lack of consideration for anarchism is understandable for the time in which he wrote (1850), but if his reliance on a divine origin (rather than a logical origin) for natural rights can be overlooked, then The Law is an excellent blueprint for a free society.