On the record
Neither the conquerors, nor the conquered, have yet learned that no government can have any right to exist for any other purpose than the simple maintenance of justice between man and man.
Said by
Lysander Spooner
Source
gutenberg.orgLysander Spooner: “Neither the conquerors, nor the conquered, have yet learned that no government can have any right to exist for any other…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner posits that no government has the right to exist except to maintain justice among individuals.
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More from Lysander Spooner
Practically speaking, no government knows any limits to its power, except the endurance of the people.
In this manner all unjust laws are established, and made operative against the rights of the people.
Therefore all their laws, as they call them,--that is, all the laws of their own making,--have no color of authority or obligation.
They were even allowed to grant pardon to criminals, and to correct by their clemency the rigors of justice.