The Law

But the Law is made, most often, by one man or by one class of men. And since the Law cannot exist without a sanction, without the support of a predominant force, it is inevitable that it must ultimately place this force in the hands of those who legislate.

This inevitable phenomenon, combined with the fatal inclination that we have observed in the heart of man, explains the nearly universal perversion of the Law. One can see how, instead of being a check on injustice, it becomes an instrument—and the most invincible instrument—of injustice. One can see that, depending on the power of the legislator, it destroys for his benefit, and to varying degrees among the rest of mankind, Personality original: "Personnalité." In Bastiat's philosophy, this refers to "Personhood"—the right of an individual to their own physical and moral being. by slavery, Liberty by oppression, and Property by plunder.

It is in the nature of men to react against the inequity of which they are victims. Therefore, when Plunder is organized by the Law for the benefit of the classes who make it, all the plundered classes tend—by peaceful or revolutionary means—to seek some share in the making of the Laws. These classes, depending on the degree of enlightenment original: "lumières." A common 18th and 19th-century term referring to the intellectual and moral progress of a society; the same root as the "Enlightement." they have attained, may propose two very different goals when they thus pursue the conquest of their politi- The text ends mid-word on "politiques" (political), as the sentence continues on the following page.