French political libertarian and economist CLAUDE FRÉDÉRIC BASTIAT (1801-1850) was one of the most eloquent champions of the concept that property rights and individual freedoms flowed from natural law.
Here, in this 1850 classic, a powerful refutation of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto, published two years earlier, Bastiat discusses:
. what is law?
. why socialism constitutes legal plunder
. the proper function of the law
. the law and morality
. "the vicious circle of socialism"
. the basis for stable government
. and more.