And having no right to say that you have any principals, you are bound, on every just principle of law or reason, to confess that you are mere usurpers, making laws, and enforcing them, upon your own authority alone.
He argues that without legitimate representation, those in power are merely usurpers.
Share
More from Lysander Spooner
They were even allowed to grant pardon to criminals, and to correct by their clemency the rigors of justice.
But there is no reason why a judge should have the power of punishing, for contempt, any more than for any other offence.
Any restriction upon the exercise of this right is a restriction upon his rightful power of providing for, and accomplishing, his own well-being.
A man has a natural right to enforce his own rights and redress his own wrongs.