Monopolies Are Bad, Which is Why Government Shouldn’t Monopolize Law and Order

Monopolies Are Bad, Which is Why Government Shouldn’t Monopolize Law and Order

Lex mercatoria, or the “Law Merchant,” refers to the privately produced, privately adjudicated, and privately enforced body of customary law that governed virtually every aspect of commercial transactions by the end of the 11th century. Thus, the Law Merchant provides libertarians with an important example of effective law without coercive state authority. Rapid expansion in agricultural productivity during the 11th and 12th centuries meant that less labor was needed to produce sufficient food and clothing for Europe’s population. The effect of this increase in production was that...

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Bruce Benson

Bruce L. Benson is the DeVoe Moore Professor and Distinguished Research Professor in economics, Courtesy Professor of Law, and Director of the BB&T Program in Free Enterprise at Florida State University until he retires at the end of 2015, when he will have Professor Emeritus status. He will also serve as the Templeton Visiting Scholar at the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University during the spring semester, 2016. He earned BA (1973) and MA (1975) degrees from the University of Montana and a PhD (1978) from Texas A&M University, all in economics. After four years at Pennsylvania State University and three at Montana State University, he moved to Florida State University.



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Last Rights: The Death of American Liberty

Last Rights: The Death of American Liberty

Americans today have “freedom” to be fleeced, groped, injected, harassed, surveilled, vilified, disarmed, beaten, detained, and maybe shot by federal agents. From hapless homeowners hit by SWAT raids to pandemic lockdowns pointlessly paralyzing lives, government...

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