And this right of property--this right of supreme, absolute, and irresponsible dominion over anything that is naturally a subject of ownership--is subject only to this qualification, viz., that each man must so use his own, as not to injure another.
Lysander Spooner: “And this right of property--this right of supreme, absolute, and irresponsible dominion over anything that is naturally…”
Editor's note · Context
Spooner states that property rights are limited only by the obligation not to harm others.
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They do not tell us that all liberty and order would be destroyed, that society itself would go to pieces, and man go back to barbarism, if it were not for the care, and supervision, and protection, they lavish upon us.
They neither ask, nor expect, any mercy, if they should ever fall into the hands of honest men.
On the contrary, they acknowledge themselves robbers, murderers, and villains, pure and simple.
For all these reasons, they are not only modest and sensible, but really frank, honest, and honorable villains, contrasted with these courts of injustice, and the lawmakers by whom these courts are established.