Frédéric Bastiat’s Distinction
between Legal and Illegal Plunder
By Dr. David M. Hart, Liberty Fund, Inc.
A Paper given at the Molinari Society Session “Explorations in Philosophical Anarchy” at the Pacific
Meeting of the American Philosophical Society, Seattle WA, 7 April, 2012.
Draft Date: Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Page 1
Table of Contents
.
Frédéric Bastiat’s Distinction between Legal and Illegal Plunder 3
i.
...............................................................................................................
Some Prefatory Remarks
3
ii.
...............................................................................................................................
Introduction
4
iii.
..........................................................................................
The Unwritten “History of Plunder”
7
iv.
............................................................................................................
“Thou Shalt Not Steal”
10
v.
.....................................................................................
“La Ruse” (Trickery) and Legal Plunder
13
vi.
................................................................................
The “Malthusian” Limits to State Plunder
16
vii.
................................................................................................................
Theological Plunder
19
viii.
.............................................................................................................................
Conclusion
22
...............................................................................
Bibliography
23
.............................................................................................................
General Bastiat Resources
23
.........................................................................................................................
Works by Bastiat
23
.................................................................................................................
Other Primary Sources
24
........................................................................................................................
Secondary Sources
25
................................
Biography of Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850)
26
.......................................................................
About the Author
28
Page 2
Frédéric Bastiat’s Distinction between Legal and
Illegal Plunder
i.Some Prefatory Remarks
I confess I feel like an interloper here tonight - like an historian lamb in the
philosophers’ lion den. I am a historian who is interested in the history of ideas, in
particular the history of economic ideas and the history of the classical liberal
tradition. So I beg for forgiveness and forbearance (though I suppose the
theological sessions are being held elsewhere tonight) if what I have to say is less
“philosophical” and rather more “historical” in nature. I only you hope you find it
interesting,even if you think it is horribly wrong (and even wrong-headed).
One might well ask, “what has Bastiat got to do with the philosophy of
anarchism?”
Was he an anarcho-capitalist like his friend and colleague Gustave de Molinari?
- No, he was an advocate of limited government along the lines of the
classical “nightwatchman state” - police, defence, some public goods.
Did he hate the state (to use Rothbard’s very useful litmus test)?
- Yes, I think he did. At least the monarchical, religious, protectionist,
regulatory , and then socialist state under which he lived. He also got more
anti-statist as he got older.
Did he believe the same moral principles should govern the actions of members
of the State as they did for private individuals?
- Yes, he did most certainly.
Page 3
Did he believe that the state was the main source of suffering, killing, and
exploitation not just in his own day but throughout history?
- Yes, he did most certainly.
Therefore, on these grounds I believe Bastiat has a lot that is of interest to say to
those interested in the theory of anarchism.
ii.Introduction
This paper comes out of a larger research and publishing project on the life and
work of the French advocate for free trade, economic journalist, arch-critic of the
socialist movement, member of the French Chamber of Deputies during the
Second Republic, and economic, political, and social theorist Frédéric Bastiat
(1801-1850).
1
[See bio below for details.].
An important part of Bastiat’s social theory was the idea of
“plunder” (“spoliation” in French). His theory emerged in the last 3 years of his life
(1847-1850) as he intensified his battle against protectionism and socialism, first as
a journalist, then as a politician in the Chamber of Deputies during Second
Republic, and then as an economic theorist. We can track his scattered writings on
plunder as this preliminary list indicates:
• “”Le vol à la prime” (Theft by Subsidy), Journal des économistes, January 1846,
T. XIII, pp. 115-120
Page 4
1
Frédéric Bastiat, The Collected Works of Frédéric Bastiat in 6 volumes, General Editor Jacques de
Guenin, Academic Editor David M. Hart (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2011). Volume 1:
The Man
and the Statesman: The Correspondence and Articles on Politics (March 2011).
Available online at
oll.libertyfund.org/title/2393>. Volume 2: The Law, The State, and Other Political Writings,
1843-1850 (June 2012). Volume 3: Economic Sophisms and "What Is Seen and What Is Not
Seen" (2013-14).