The Law

[per]version of the Law is a perpetual cause of
hatred and discord, potentially leading even to social
disorder? Cast your eyes upon the United
States. It is the country in the world where the Law remains most
within its proper role, which is to guarantee to everyone their li-
berty and their property. Consequently, it is the country in the world
where the social order appears to rest upon the
most stable foundations. However, even in the United States, there
are two questions, and only two, which,
since the beginning, have several times put the po-
litical order in peril. And what are these two ques-
tions? That of Slavery, and that of Tariffs,
that is to say, precisely the only two questions
where, contrary to the general spirit of this re-
public, the Law has taken on a plundering original: "spoliateur." Bastiat uses this to describe the act of using the law to take property from one person and give it to another. character.
Slavery is a violation, sanctioned by the
law, of the rights of the Individual. Protection referring to protectionist trade tariffs is
a violation, perpetrated by the law, of the right of Pro-
perty; and certainly, it is quite remarkable that in the
midst of so many other debates, this double legal scourge,
this sad heritage of the old world, should be the only one that
could lead to—and perhaps will lead to—the rupture of
the Union. For indeed, one could not imagine,
within a society, a more significant fact
than this: The Law become an instrument of injus-
tice. And if this fact produces such
formidable consequences in the United States, where it is only an