Private law society

A private law society, as defined by Dr. Hans Hoppe, is "a society in which every individual and institution is subject to one and the same set of laws."

In a private law society, there is "... no public law granting privileges to specific persons or functions (and no public property) exists." Instead, "There is only private law (and private property), equally applicable to each and everyone. No one is permitted to acquire property by any means other than through original appropriation, production, or voluntary exchange, and no one possesses a privilege to tax and expropriate. Moreover, in a private-law society no one is permitted to prohibit anyone else from using his property in order to enter any line of production he wishes and compete against whomever he pleases... Specifically regarding the problem at hand: in a private-law society the production of security — of law and order — will be undertaken by freely financed individuals and agencies competing for a voluntarily paying (or not-paying) clientele, just as the production of all other goods and services."

The essential feature that identifies a private law society is the absence of a monopoly on security services and arbitration services.

Links

 * A Private Law Society (by Hans-Hermann Hoppe) (video), October 2008