It is not doubted that the power to establish a standard of value, by which all other values may be measured, or, in other words, to determine what shall be lawful money and a legal tender, is in its nature, and of necessity, a governmental power.
Spooner discusses the inherent governmental power to define currency and its implications.
Share
More from Lysander Spooner
In that case the trial is really a trial by the government, and not by the jury.
And nobody is bound to take the least notice of them, unless it be to trample them under foot, as usurpations.
Practically speaking, no government knows any limits to its power, except the endurance of the people.
Yet the codes of the most celebrated kings are very small, and were little more than compilations of immemorial customs.