Law Is Force
Since the law organizes justice, the socialists ask why the law
should not also organize labor, education, and religion.
Why should not law be used for these purposes? Because it could
not organize labor, education, and religion without destroying
justice. We must remember that law is force, and that, consequently,
the proper functions of the law cannot lawfully extend beyond the
proper functions of force.
When law and force keep a person within the bounds of justice,
they impose nothing but a mere negation. They oblige him only to
abstain from harming others. They violate neither his personality,
his liberty, nor his property. They safeguard all of these. They are
defensive; they defend equally the rights of all.