The Constitution has no inherent authority or obligation. It has no authority or obligation at all, unless as a contract between man… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
It is with government paper, and bank paper, as it is with the paper of private persons; that is, it is worth… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
For everybody has a natural right to defend his own person and property against aggressors, but also to go to the assistance… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
And yet we have what purports, or professes, or is claimed, to be a contract—the Constitution—made eighty years ago, by men who… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
The rescue of a person, who is assaulted, or restrained of his liberty, without authority of law, is not only morally, but… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
No body of men can be said to authorize a man to act as their agent, to the injury of a third… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
Now a slave is not 'held' by any legal contract, obligation, duty, or authority, which the laws will enforce. He is 'held'… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
If those persons, who fancy themselves gifted with both the power and the right to define and punish other men's vices, would… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
The 'nations,' as they are called, with whom our pretended ambassadors, secretaries, presidents, and senators profess to make treaties, are as much… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
No man can delegate,... any right of arbitrary dominion over a 3rd person; for that would imply a right in the 1st… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
One essential of a free government is that it rest wholly on voluntary support. And one certain proof that a government is… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
But for their right to judge of the law, and the justice of the law, juries would be no protection to an… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
The mental capacity of a person to make reasonable contracts, is the only criterion, by which to determine his legal capacity to… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
There has been no clearer principle of English or American constitutional law than that, in criminal cases, it is not only the… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
There is not, in the Constitution, a syllable that implies that persons, born within the territorial limits of the United States, have… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after his own happiness. Unlike crimes, they imply no malice… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
Vices are those acts by which a man harms himself or his property. Crimes are those acts by which one man harms… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
All the great establishments, of every kind, now in the hands of a few proprietors, but employing a great number of wage… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
Now it is clear, that if the government can exclude, on account either of their opinions or feelings, any persons thus drawn… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
Slavery, if it can be legalized at all, can be legalized only by positive legislation. Natural law gives it no aid. Custom imparts to… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
The greatest of all crimes are the wars that are carried on by governments, to plunder, enslave, and destroy mankind. — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
Those who deny the right of a jury to protect an individual in resisting an unjust law of the government, deny him all defence… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
I was put into jail as I was going to the shoemaker's to get a shoe which was mended. When I was let out… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
The single despot stands out in the face of all men, and says: I am the State: My will is law: I am your… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
The Rothschilds, and that class of money-lenders of whom they are the representatives and agents - men who never think of lending a shilling… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
Who are ever taxed? Individuals only. Who have property that can be taxed? Individuals only. Who can give their consent to be taxed? Individuals… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
Practically and commercially speaking, a dollar is not necessarily a specific thing, made of silver, or gold, or any other single metal, or substance.… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
If the jury have no right to judge of the justice of a law of the government, they plainly can do nothing to protect… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
If it be said that the consent of the strongest party in a nation, is all that is necessary to justify the establishment of… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
In reality there is no such thing as an inflation of prices, relatively to gold. There is such a thing as a depreciated paper… — Lysander Spooner Copy Share Image
