The Law

exception, what must it be in our Europe, where
it is a Principle, a System?

Mr. de Montalembert Charles de Montalembert (1810–1870) was a prominent French politician and orator who led the liberal Catholic movement., adopting the thought
from a famous proclamation by Mr. Carlier Pierre Carlier (1794–1858) was the Prefect of Police in Paris during the Second Republic.,
said: we must make war on Socialism. — And
by Socialism, one must believe that, according to the
definition of Mr. Charles Dupin Charles Dupin (1784–1873) was a mathematician, engineer, and economist known for his work on French industry and social statistics., he meant
Plunder original: "Spoliation." Bastiat uses this term to describe the forced transfer of property from one person to another via the law..

But what kind of Plunder did he wish to speak of? For
there are two kinds. There is extra-legal plunder
and legal plunder.

As for extra-legal plunder, that which
is called theft or swindling, which is defined,
foreseen, and punished by the Penal Code—in truth,
I do not think it can be decorated with the name of
Socialism. It is not this which systematically
threatens society at its foundations. Furthermore,
the war against this kind of plunder did not
wait for the signal from Mr. de Montalembert or
Mr. Carlier. It has been pursued since the begin-
ning of the world; France had provided for it
long before the February Revolution The Revolution of 1848, which overthrew the monarchy and established the French Second Republic.,
long before the appearance of Socialism, by
a whole apparatus of the judiciary, police,
constabulary, prisons, hard-labor camps, and scaf-
folds. It is the Law itself that conducts this
war, and what would be, in my opinion, desirable; is