The Law, Frdric Bastiat Translated by Dean Russell
The Law, Frdric Bastiat Translated by Dean Russell
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The Law

Author: Frdric Bastiat; Translated by Dean Russell

Narrator: Bernard Mayes

Unabridged: 2 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/16/2012

Categories: Nonfiction, Law

Synopsis

First published as a pamphlet in June 1850, The Law is already well over a hundred years old, and it will still be read when another century has passed. America now faces the same situation France did in 1848 and the same socialist-communist plans and ideas adopted there are now sweeping Americathe collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe notwithstanding. Bastiats explanation of and arguments against socialism are as valid today as they were when written, and his ideas deserve serious consideration. Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.Frdric Bastiat

Reviews

Goodreads review by Brenda on March 13, 2008

the same situation exists in America today as in the France of 1848 Socialists desire to practice legal plunder, not illegal plunder. Socialists, like all other monopolists, desire to make the law their own weapon. And when once the law is on the side of socialism, how can it be used against socialis......more

Goodreads review by Kassi on September 09, 2008

While I agree with Bastiat entirely, the way that he has presented "the classic blueprint for a just society," is exactly why people who lean more towards socialist ideas scoff at those who are for capitalism, economic stability, and most importantly honoring the fundamentals of the need for law: to......more

Goodreads review by Justin on July 29, 2014

Having been greatly encouraged by some libertarian friends to read “The Law” by Frédéric Bastiat, I finally got around to reading it today, and if I were to simplify my impressions of it in as few words as possible, it would be an anti-communist manifesto. In fact, the book’s structure, style, metho......more

Goodreads review by Patrick on March 03, 2024

2022-07-07 A GR friend just asked me about this book and I was shocked that I had not yet reviewed it here. I first found out about this classic little book when I was in college and a fellow student clued me in (about 1976) to the Foundation for Economic Education, which had translated, published an......more

Goodreads review by P.E. on May 06, 2021

Need some time to let my observations settle down a bit :) What I can readily say is that I'm more than slightly surprised I only stumbled on the author's name only recently! This is a instructive text to study whether you are interested in classical liberalism, the American and French Revolutions,......more

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