Law

A.V. Dicey noted that a key change in public thinking during the 19th Century was the move away from the early close association between “peace and retrenchment” in the size of the government (1905)

Adam Smith argues that the Habeas Corpus Act is a great security against the tyranny of the king (1763)

Adam Smith claims that exorbitant taxes imposed without consent of the governed constitute legitimate grounds for the people to resist their rulers (1763)

Adam Smith on how Government Regulation and Taxes might drive a Man to Drink (1766)

Adam Smith on Slavery

Algernon Sidney argues that a law that is not just is not a law (1683)

Bruno Leoni argues that expressing one’s economic choice as a consumer in a free market is quite different from making a political choice by means of voting (1961)

Bruno Leoni notes the strong connection between economic freedom and decentralized legal decision-making (1961)

Bruno Leoni on the different Ways in which Needs can be satisfied, either voluntarily through the Market or coercively through the State (1963)

Bruno Leoni points out that elections are seriously flawed because majority rule is incompatible with individual freedom of choice (1961)

Cesare Beccaria says that torture is cruel and barbaric and a violation of the principle that no one should be punished until proven guilty in a court of law; in other words it is the “right of power” (1764)

De Lolme on Liberty as equality under the laws (1784)

Erasmus has the personification of Peace come down to earth to see with dismay how war ravages human societies (1521)

Frederick Pollock argues that a violent assault on the football field is not an actionable tort because it is part of the activities of a voluntarily agreed to association of adults (1895)

Gaius states that according to natural reason the first occupier of any previously unowned property becomes the just owner (2nd Century)

Gershom Carmichael on the idea that civil power is founded on the consent of those against whom it is exercised (1724)

Grotius on Moderation in Despoiling the Country of one’s Enemies (1625)

Heineccius argues that no man should be deprived of anything which he has received by nature, or has justly acquired (1738)

Hugo Grotius discusses the just causes of going to war, especially the idea that the capacity to wage war must be matched by the intent to do so (1625)

Hugo Grotius on civil right being derived from civil power

Hugo Grotius on sparing Civilian Property from Destruction in Time of War (1625)

Hugo Grotius on the natural sociability of humans (1625)

Hugo Grotius states that in an unjust war any acts of hostility done in that war are “unjust in themselves” (1625)

James Wilson argues that it is the people, not the prince, who is superior in matters of legal sovereignty (1790)

James Wilson asks if man exists for the sake of government, or is government instituted for the sake of man? (1791)

Jean Barbeyrac on the need to disobey unjust laws (1715)

Jean Barbeyrac on the Virtues which all free Men should have (1718)

Kant believed that citizens must give their free consent via their representatives to every separate declaration of war (1790)

Lord Kames argued that neither the King nor Parliament had the right to grant monopolies because they harmed the interests of the people (1778)

Lysander Spooner argues that according to the traditional English common law, taxation would not be upheld because no explicit consent was given by individuals to be taxed (1852)

Lysander Spooner on Jury Nullification as the "palladium of liberty" against the tyranny of government (1852)

Lysander Spooner on the idea that laws against “vice” (victimless crimes) are unjust (1875)

Lysander Spooner on why government monopolies like the post office are inherently inefficient (1844)

Lysander Spooner spells out his theory of “mine and thine”, or the science of natural law and justice, which alone can ensure that mankind lives in peace (1882)

Plucknett contrasts the flexibility and adaptability of customary law with the rigidity and remoteness of state legislation (1956)

Plucknett on the Renaissance state’s “war against the idea of law” (1956)

Pollock on “our lady” the common law and her devoted servants (1911)

Pollock on “our lady” the common law and her devoted servants (1911)

Sir Edward Coke declares that your house is your “Castle and Fortress” (1604)

Sir Edward Coke defends British Liberties and the Idea of Habeas Corpus in the Petition of Right before Parliament (1628)

Sir Edward Coke explains one of the key sections of Magna Carta on English liberties (1642)

Sir William Blackstone argues that occupancy of previously unowned land creates a natural right to that property which excludes others from it (1753)

Sir William Blackstone declares unequivocally that slavery is “repugnant to reason, and the principles of natural law” and that it has no place in English law (1753)

Sir William Blackstone provides a strong defence of personal liberty and concludes that to “secretly hurry” a man to prison is a “dangerous engine of arbitrary government” (1753)

The right to free trade under Magna Carta (1215)

The Women of Seneca Falls and William Blackstone

Viscount Bryce reflects on how modern nation states which achieved their own freedom through struggle are not sympathetic to the similar struggles of other repressed peoples (1901)