
Introduction, translated and reproduced in Hirst (1909), p. 291
The National System of Political Economy (1841)
Science of Right (1797)
Introduction, translated and reproduced in Hirst (1909), p. 291
The National System of Political Economy (1841)
Part I : Declaration, Ch. IV : Mr. Spencer's Confusion as to Rights
A Perplexed Philosopher (1892)
Context: Men must have rights before they can have equal rights. Each man has a right to use the world because he is here and wants to use the world. The equality of this right is merely a limitation arising from the presence of others with like rights. Society, in other words, does not grant, and cannot equitably withhold from any individual, the right to the use of land. That right exists before society and independently of society, belonging at birth to each individual, and ceasing only with his death. Society itself has no original right to the use of land. What right it has with regard to the use of land is simply that which is derived from and is necessary to the determination of the rights of the individuals who compose it. That is to say, the function of society with regard to the use of land only begins where individual rights clash, and is to secure equality between these clashing rights of individuals.
As quoted in Anarchism: From Theory to Practice, Daniel Guérin, New York: NY, Monthly Review Press (1970) p. 31
Source: Liberalism (1911), Chapter II, The Elements of Liberalism, p. 16.
Worshiping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation (2017), p. 7