The Law Defends Plunder

by Frédéric Bastiat

　　But it does not always do this. Sometimes the law defends plunderand participates in it. Thus the beneficiaries are spared the shame,danger, and scruple which their acts would otherwise involve.Sometimes the law places the whole apparatus of judges, police,prisons, and gendarmes at the service of the plunderers, and treatsthe victim -- when he defends himself -- as a criminal. In short,there is a legal plunder, and it is of this, no doubt, that Mr. deMontalembert speaks.

　　This legal plunder may be only an isolated stain among thelegislative measures of the people. If so, it is best to wipe it outwith a minimum of speeches and denunciations -- and in spite of theuproar of the vested interests.