The rule of law does
not do away with unequal distribution of wealth and power, but reinforces that
inequality with the authority of law. It allocates wealth and poverty (through
taxes and appropriations) but in such complicated and indirect ways as to leave
the victim bewildered. To protect everyone’s contracts seem like an act of
fairness, or equal treatment, until one considers that contracts made between
rich and poor, between employer and employee, landlord and tenant, creditor and
debtor, generally favor the more powerful of the two parties. Thus, to protect
these contracts is to put the great power of the government, its laws, courts,
sheriffs, police, on the side of the privileged - and to do it not, as in
premodern times, as an exercise of brute force against the weak but as a matter
of law.
To protect everyone’s
contracts seem like an act of fairness, or equal treatment, until one considers
that contracts made between rich and poor, between employer and employee,
landlord and tenant, creditor and debtor, generally favor the more powerful of
the two parties. Thus, to protect these contracts is to put the great power of
the government, its laws, courts, sheriffs, police, on the side of the
privileged - and to do it not, as in premodern times, as an exercise of brute
force against the weak but as a matter of law.
No comments:
Post a Comment