"The systems advocated by professed upholders of laissez-faire are in reality permeated with coercive restrictions of individual freedom. … What is the government doing when it "protects a property right"? Passively, it is abstaining from interference with the owner when he deals with the thing owned; actively, it is forcing the non-owner to desist from handling it, unless the owner consents. Yet Mr. Carver would have it that the government is merely preventing the non-owner from using force against the owner. This explanation is obviously at variance with the facts—for the non-owner is forbidden to handle the owner's property even where his handling of it involves no violence or force whatever. … In protecting property the government is doing something quite apart from merely keeping the peace. It is exerting coercion wherever that is necessary to protect each owner, not merely from violence, but also from peaceful infringement of his sole right to enjoy the thing owned."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Robert Hale, “Coercion and Distribution in a Supposedly Non-Coercive State,” Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 3 (Sep., 1923), pp. 470-494.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Property
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Property
88 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Property →
Related Quotes
"I know of no case in which you are to have a judicial proceeding, by which a man is to be deprived of any part of his…"
"The superior man loves his soul; the inferior man loves his property."
"Property is surely a right of mankind as really as liberty. Perhaps, at first, prejudice, habit, shame or fear, princ…"
"Property must be secured, or liberty cannot exist."
"As long as Property exists, it will accumulate in Individuals and Families. As long as Marriage exists, Knowledge, Pr…"
"Nature gave all things in common for the use of all; usurpation created private rights. Property hath no rights. The …"
"γεωμετρῆσαι βούλομαι τὸν ἀέρα ὑμῖν διελεῖν τε κατὰ γύας."
"A man might say, "The things that are in the world are what God has made. ... Why should I not love what God has made…"
"Behold how only a few things suffice for you; nor does God ask much of you. Seek as much as He has given you, and fro…"
"Birth and wealth are conferred on some men as imperiously by nature, as genius, strength, or beauty."