Spring 1994 A Publication of the FreeNation Foundation Vol. I, No. 3

Foundation Business: Forum on Systems of Law to FNF Director A Report From the Office be held April 30 Lectures on Liberty

• Asof late Marchwe have not yet received TheFree Nation Foundationwill hold its Since the founding of the Free Nation any wordfrom the IRS regarding the status secondForum on Saturday, April30, 1994, Foundationlast year,Director Roderick Long of our applicationfor 50 I (c )(3) tax status. at the Days Inn near the Raleigh-Durham has been giving a variety of lectures and Airport, NC (Interstate 40, exit 284; loca­ talks on libertarian topics across the coun­ • In late Februarywe mailed 240 copiesof tion shown below). The Forum will run try. LastJuly 16, he lecturedon "TheEthics issue no. 2 of Formulatior,s. The mailing from 10 am. Wltil5 pm. Thesubject will be of Flourishing: Aristotle vs. Rand" at the list combines several sources including: Systems of Law. Institute for Objectivist Studies Summer libertariancontacts here in NorthCarolina; Seminar in Philosophyat Roger Williams names gleaned from publications of na­ College, Bristol, Rhode Island. Dr. Long tional libertarian organizations and think­ offered some criticisms of the defense of tanks; and members and friends. individual rightsoffered by libertarianphi­ losopher-novelistAyn Rand, and suggested • Since publication of issueno. 2, we have that a more successful defense might in- beenjoined by fivenew members. Onthe way to our first million members,we have (continuedon page11) reachedthe milestone at 0.002%. • We also received two membership re­ Inside newals. This hasreminded us that we need I-40 at Exit 284 to start a system of telling members when � their memberships expire. Until we do, , Govern ment Grows: members may beassured that no member­ e nda: Onth Ai:e True or False? shipsexpire till August 1994,since the by Richard Hammer ...... 2 firstmemberships started in August I 993. Basic Questions About Law Your membershipswill run a fullcalendar presentedby Law can Be Private year foreach $30 which you apply toward RichardHammer by Richard Hammer ...... 3 membership. But be assured that we wel­ come additional contributions. Developmentof Law The Decline and Fall of as Society Develops Private Law in Iceland • In February we prepared and mailed our presentedby by Roderick Long ...... 4 firstannual report. Thisdocument, modeled Bobby Emory roughly on anual reports of business cor­ Notes on the History porations,gives a summary organization,of Implementing Private Law of Legal Systems programs, andfinances of the Foundation. in a World of States by Bobby Emory...... 7 Oneof thefinancial statement s, Sourcesand presented by Uses of Funds, shows that the Foundation Roderick Long Restitutive Justice and spent$1233 fromJune 7, 1993, the date of the Costs of Restraint incorporation,to December 31, I 993, the by Richard Hammer end of the first fiscal year. The largest To register for the Forum,return the en­ and Roderick Long ...... 9 expenditureswere printing, $445, and hotel closedcard Registrantswill receivea pack­ charges for the October forum, $177. The age of materials, lunch, and proceedings The Nature of Law largest sources of funds were $703 from printed afterthe Forum. Registration fee: by RoderickLong ...... 1 O Richard Hammer, and$390 from member- fornonmembers, $25 until April 22, $35 ships. thereafter; formembers ofthe FreeNation A University Built by Foundation, $20 until April 22, $28 there­ the Invisible Hand • Also in February we printed and mailed after. Those planning to stay at the hotel by RoderickLong ...... 12 the proceedingsof our October I 993 forum should call 919-469-8688 for reserva­ '\. on constitutions. Ii tions. Ii The Free Nation Foundation, [outdated street address], HillsboroughNC 27278 Government Grows: True or False? by Richard Hammer

We in the Free Nation Foundation would like to build toward a free society. To Editor: RoderickT. Long advance this effort,it seemswise for us to study history,to seeif historyhas parallels, a publication of the something to teachus. I am not a historian. Free Nation J,'oundation [old-address] But I will tell someof what I havelearned, Hillsborough NC 27278 and speculateabout what that meansfor us. I hope that readers who know more· will Statement of Purpose contribute to our education by writing in their corrections andadditions. The purpose of the Free Nation Foundation is to advance the day when coercive institutions of government can be replaced by voluntary institutions of A Thesis: Government Grows civil mutual consent, by developing clear and believable descriptions of those I would like to confirm or refute this voluntary institutions, and by building a community of people who share confi­ thesis: dence in these descriptions.

Existing governments grow, almost Board of Directors always. Thisgrowth eventually cripples Richard 0. Hammer, President the economy. If governmentsare not Bobby Yates Emory, Secretary firstdes troyed by foreign invasion,then RoderickT. Long they weaken economically (and mor­ ally) till theycollapse areor overthrown Formulations ispublished quarterly, on the first of March,Jun e, September, fromwithin. and December.

While historymay show someinstances Subscriptions to Formulations may be purchased for $1 o forfour issues(one of the dismantling of powers within year). Membership in the Free NationFoundation may be purchased for $30 per existing states, these instances are in­ year. Members receive: a subscription to Formulations, 20% discount on con­ ference registration fees, invitation to attend regular meetings of the Board of frequent and insubstantial when com­ Directors, copies of the Bylaws and Annual Report. Additional contributions are pared to the overwhelming trend of welcome. growth. This applies not only to mod­ em democracies, but also to earlier An application has been filed with the IRS for 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt status. monarchies, and,I suggest,to all states in history. Information for Authors

The thesishas a corollarywhich suggests We seek columns, articles, and art, within the range of our work plan. We where we might expectto findliberty: also welcome letters to the editor which contributeto our debate and process of seH-education. Liberty has existed in the times and Our work plan isto work within the community of people who already think places where government has not yet of themselves as libertarian, to develop clear and believable descriptions of the grown. Aftera government collapses critical institutions (such as those that provide security, both domestic and or is overthrown,there will bepockets national) with which we libertarians would propose to replace the coercive institutions of government of liberty till government grows over As a first priority we seek formulations on the nature of these institutions. them again. These formulationscould well be historicalaccounts of institutions that served In earlier societies, or accountsof present institutionsnow serving in othersocieties. Little has Been Written to Help Answer As a second priority we seek material of general interest to libertarians, the Question subject to thiscaveat We are not complaining, we are building. We do not seek Unfortunately,few historians have stud­ criticism of existing political institutions or persons unless the author uses that ied historyas I would like to seeit, through criticism to enlighten formulation of an improved institution. a lens which highlights issues of economic All submissions are subject to editing. liberty and productivity. I will share here Submissions will be consideredfor publication if received by the 15th of the month preceding month of publication. Thus, the deadlines for writers are: the fewtidbits I have picked up. February 15, May 15, August 15, and November 15. In OurEnemy the Slate, AlbertJay Nock presentsa similar thesis: that governments, Address correspondence to: Free Nation Foundation, [outdated street once they grow to a certainsize, then con- address], Hillsborough NC 27278.

(continued on page3) page2 J,'ormulations Vol. I, No. 3, Spring 1994 Law Can Be Private ponent hinds all other members of the by Richard Hammer group who did not participate in the case under consideration. The [adjudicator[ After the FNF Board of Directors decidec himself turns to his previous decisions for the subject for our second forum, systems o consistency. In a way, they also bind him. law, it became evident that I needed to lean Lawyers speak in such a case about the something if I hoped to contribute. Accord binding force of precedent.'" ingl y, the President of FNF assigned me tht (The Enterprise oflaw, p. 17.) A task of reading The Enterprise of law, bJ Bruce L. Benson. I never would have un 1 Bruce L. Benson's The Enterprise of Law: dertaken this assignment without somt Justice Without the State, published in 1990 by prodding. But, having completed it, I car the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. say that I feel grateful. Would you like t< may be purchased from Freedom's Forum Book­ store in San Francisco, 415-864-0952. As of feel grateful too? Okay, here is your as 1 press time, Freedom's Forum is offering a hard­ signment. Read this book. cover copy for a sale price of $14.95 plus ship- - Before reading 11,e Enterprise oflaw ; ping, though the price will prohahly go up soon. question lingered in my mind: could lav indeed he private? The book pretty mud, Richard 0. Hammer.founder ofthe Free answered that in the affirmative. Benson Richard Hammer Nation Foundation, owns a small business convinced me with examples and stories. building houses in Hillsborough, North So I find myself back at the drawing board small country their consent to imple­ Carolina. On a local level he writes fre­ asking, now what is the question? Private ment our constitution. How would we quent columns, interpreting political events law smmds better to me than the government dismantle the government system of in a libertarian frame. He participates in stuff. I want it. What can we in the Free law? In what sequence? What prob­ the Republica11 Party and currently is can­ Nation Foundation do to move toward it? lems could we expect to encounter? didate for County Commissioner in Ora11ge We could say that the FNF work plan calls County, NC. In the past he worked as a11 for us to describe the specifics of a system of I realize that I have not brought a doubting engineer and management scientist. law under which we libertarians would be reader along to share my confidence that law happy to live. And surely that is worth can be private and voluntary rather than Government Grows (from p. 2) undertaking. But before going far down that "public" and run by the government. I path I want to understand better the animal imagine that such confidence is built with tinue to grow till they collapse. But as I we would tame. Law is a living and moving experience or with stories filled with believ­ recall, he does not offer much background thing - with teeth. able details. I hope that for future issues of for this, and does not speculate about the Realizing now, as I did before the first Formulations our readers will submit ac­ causes. FNF forum, that I am better equipped to ask co1.µ1ts which help carry this point. One book, The God of the Machine by questions than to answer them, I will plan to For me, Chapter 2 of The Enterprise of Isabel Paterson, does address the theme. structure my part in our upcoming forum law provided sufficient data to make a She writes, for instance, about the Roman around some questions. I will ask the convert. Here I give one excerpt. In it Empire, and correlates, for different periods questions, give my tentative answers, and Benson is recounting research, done by in its life, the strength of its economy with then ask for others to suggest their answers. Leopold Popisil in the 1950's, of the state­ the freedom of its markets. During the My questions are: less Kapauku Papuans, a primitive linguis­ heyday there was great freedom. During the 1) How big is law? ·To adequately tic group of about 45,000 people living by collapse a huge bureaucracy was trying to describe it would we need ten words, ~orticulture in West New Guinea. fix the economy by strengthening its regu­ ten pages, ten volumes, or ten lifetimes? lation. But I need to read this book again. 2) What aspect of human nature or "Recognition of law was based on kinship Paterson makes her points about political human culture drives government law and contractual reciprocities motivated economy by writing analogies to machines to supplant voluntary legal systems, as by the benefits of individual rights and (dynamos, engines, generators), and unfor­ it has done throughout much of the private property. Indeed, a 'mental codi­ tunately I did not always get her points. world in recent history? (This question fication of abstract rules' existed, so that References in 77,e God ofthe Machine led is borrowed from correspondence of legal decisions were part of a 'going or­ me to the work of Lord Acton. This English Bruce Benson.) der.' Grammatical phrases or references historian and political thinker ( 1834-1902) 3) Assuming we get the correct an­ to specific customs, precedents, or rules often spoke of his dream to write a book swer to question 2, is this drive revers­ were present in all adjudication decisions· called The History of Liberty. And while ible? that Popisil observed. He concluded: 'not Acton never wrote this book, he did leave 4) Assume we found ourselves em­ only does a legal decision solve a !>-pecific many lectures and papers. One Liberty powered to dismantle a system of gov­ case, but it also formulates an ideal - a Fund volume tantalized me with its title ernment law. Assume for instance that solution intended to be utilized in a simi­ we had purchased from the citizens of a lar situation in the future. The ideal com- (continued on page 4)

Formulations Vol. I, No. 3, Spring 1994 page3 Government Grows (from p. 3) about it, I can see these people as relatively The General Assembly passed laws, hut · innocent, jtL~t doing their jobs, and they did had no executive authority; law enforce­ Essays in the History ofliberty : Selected not create their jobs. Then for a time I was ment was up to the individual, with the help Writings oflord Acton. But unfortunately angry with the politicians. But, thinking of his friends, family, and Chieftain. Dis­ Acton did not focus on economic liberty, about it, politicians did not elect themselves. putes were resolved either through private and my exploratory reading leaves me So in recent years my anger has been di­ arbitration or through the court system ad­ doubting that further reading of his work rected at the statists all around me who did ministered by the General Assembly. would answer my present questions. elect these politicians. But I also need to Wrongdoers were required to pay financial My thesis that government grows reso­ grow beyond this, because these people also restitution to their victims; those who re­ lutely is supported by the satire of C. are innocent - they are just reflexively fused were denied all legal protection in the Northcote Parkinson. For instance in his using a tool which on the surface appears future (and thus, e.g., could be killed with book The Law ( 1980), Parkinson concludes capable of helping them. impunity). The claim to such compensation that bureaucratic staffs grow new positions The work plan of the Free Nation Founda­ was itself a marketable commodity; a per­ at an annual rate of5.75%. And this increase tion is an attempt to do something rational son too weak to enforce his claim could sell continues independent of the amount of about the glacier inching toward us. If the it to someone more powerful. This served to work (if any) done by the department in corollary to my thesis is correct, then we can prevent the powerful from preying on the question. he confident that history will continue to weak. Foreigners were scandalized by this produce pockets of liberty. The challenge "land without a king"; but Iceland's system It Is Hard To Find E¥idence for us libertarians is this: can we help one of appears to have kept the peace at least as Does the history exist which will prove or those pockets get created? Let's try. Join well as those of its monarchical neighbors. disprove my thesis? Such history may be us. Ii The success of the Icelandic Free difficult to discover because the records that Commonwealth's quasi-anarchistic legal we have are almost all about acts of gov­ 1 For an eye opening account of the birth of the institutions has been used by David ernments, and not about acts of private state, see The State, hy Fran1. Oppenheimer. Friedman, Bruce Benson, and others as persons or organizations. Bruce Benson, evidence against the Hobbesian argument economist at Florida State University, while The Decline and Fall that cooperation is impossible in the ab­ trying to gather evidence about the nature of Private Law in Iceland sence of central authority. and maintenance of roads in medireval En­ by Roderick T. Long But during the Sturlung Period ( 1230- gland, found virtually no records of the 1262), the Icelandic Free Commonwealth private practices which must have existed History is philosophy teaching by examples. did eventually collapse into violent conflict early in the period. But the state left records, - Bolingbrokc and social chaos, and the King of Norway as gradually over the span of centuries it had to be called in to restore order. Doesn't took over aspects of road maintenance. Many libertarians are familiar with the this show that Hobbes was right after all? Governments, Benson notes, are better about system of private law that prevailed in Ice­ Not necessarily. There is another pos­ leaving. records than private interests. land during the Free Commonwealth period sible interpretation. So liberty, the stuff in history which we (930-1262). Market mechanisms, rather In the year I 000, seventy years after the libertarians would like to document, seems than a governmental monopoly of power, founding of the Free Commonwealth, Ice­ to be unrecorded as such. The times and provided the incentives to cooperate and land was officially converted to Christian­ places in history where liberty existed may maintain order. ity, thus putting an end to a tradition of be those for which we have the least records. In outline, the system's main features were relative religious freedom. Before that time, these: Legislative power was vested in the most Icelanders worshipped the pagan Norse What To Do General Assembly (althingi); the legisla­ gods, but there were a few Christians. If you Suppose this thesis, that government tors were Chieftains (godhar, singular, were a Christian you were required, along grows, is true. What does that mean for us godhi) representing their Assemblymen with your pagan neighbors, to pay a temple libertarian activists? Well, for starters, we (thingmenn; singular, thingmadhr). Every fee to maintain the temple of your chosen should keep our heads cool as we perceive Icelander was attached to a Chieftain, either Chieftain, but otherwise you could worship the glacier inching toward us; we can know directly, by being an Assemblyman, or indi­ more or less as you pleased. that we are not the first ones to he in this rectly, by belonging to a household headed But in the 990's, King Olaf I of Norway crunch. The thesis suggests that this fight in hy an Assemblyman. A Chieftaincy sent groups of militant Christian missionar­ which we find ourselves embroiled has been (godhordh) was private property, which ies to proselytize through harassment and going on since the birth of the state. 1 could be bought and sold. Representation intimidation techniques. Those who re­ And seeing it this way, it may be possible was determined by choice rather than by sisted the word of God were sometimes for us to direct our anger more usefully. place of residence; an Assemblyman could beaten or killed. Moreover. the King cap­ During the course of my fight against the transfer his allegiance (and attendant fees) tured and held as hostages the relatives of state, I have been angry with a number of at will from one Chieftain to another without prominent Icelanders visiting Norway; Olaf different people and institutions. First I was moving to a new district. Hence competi­ threatened to maim or kill these hostages angry with the agents of the state who car­ tion among Chieftains served to keep them ried out the orders of the state. But, thinking in line. (continued on page 5)

page4 l•ormulations Vol. I, No. 3, Spring 1994 Private Law in Iceland (from p. 4) But the fourth and most important portion strange coincidence consisted entirely of - the Churchstead fee - went for the Chieftains!) under the pretext of public unless Christianity was declared Iceland's maintenance and upkeep of church build­ support for Christianity, a religion that Ice­ official religion. ings. It was this last, innocent-sounding landers unsurprisingly revered after ninety­ Iceland, a resource-poor country without portion of the tithe that did most to under­ seven years of compulsory Christian indoc­ an army, and for whom the powerful and mine the Icelamlic legal system. trination. wealthy Norway was an indispensable All the good land in Iceland had more or The original Chieftains were pagan priests; trading partner, had to take the King's threats less been claimed and occupied in the first becoming Christian priests did not involve a seriously. Even so, many Icelanders re­ century of settlement, and the Church as yet major change in lifestyle for them. Under sisted, refusing to abandon their pagan be­ lacked the power to wrest any land away Icelandic law, despitt; the futile protests of liefs. The island swiftly became divided from its individual owners. Thus in Iceland, their nominal superior the Norwegian into hostile opposing factions of Christians Christian churches were built not on church archbishop, priests could take part in law­ and pagans. A bloody civil war seemed property but on private land; such tracts of suits and bloodfeuds. More importantly for imminent. land were called Churchsteads (.vtadhir; present purposes, they could marry and have But this catastrophe was averted in typical singular, stadhr). The money raised by the children. Hence, when a Chieftain-Priest Icelandic fashion: the dispute was submit­ tithe to maintain property located on a who owned a Churchstead died, the right to ted to arbitration. Just as, to the composers Churchstead went to the private owner of receive the Churchstead fee would pass to of the Icelandic Sagas, it seemed natural, that Churchstead. Thus, owning a his children rather than reverting to the when telling of a haunted house, to depict Churchstead was a source of guaranteed Church. Since recipients of Churchstead the protagonists as holding a trial on the spot income. fees did not have to compete for the good and trying the ghosts for trespassing, and Fees to support Chieftains were compul­ will of their clients, th

Formulations Vol. I, No. 3, Spring 1994 pages Private Law in Iceland (from p. 5) number of Chieftaincies had not been fixed as to justify abandoning their political sys­ by law, new Chieftains would have been tem - was about the same as the murder that ownership of Churchskacl<; had become able to arise and challenge the emerging rdte in the United States today! Pre-Sturlung the road to political power, contests over ruling class. The ruling families' strategy of Iceland must thus have been even less vio­ Churchsteads were more important than buying up all the Chieftaincies would have lent than our own society. traditional contests over ordinary sorts of failed, because it would not have decreased Iceland's quasi-anarchistic system broke property; more people's interests were in­ the potential number of independent Chief­ down only in the last thirty years of its volved, conflict was more likely, and dis­ tains; hence competition would not have existence, having worked successfully for putes once settled through arbitration were been undermined. If, for example, a Co­ three hundred years before that. We should now settled on the battlefield. operative had been able to start up its own be cautious in labeling as a failure a political In 1000, Iceland's unique institutions of Chieftaincy, its members handing together experiment that flourished longer than the vohmtary coordination had averted civil war. for mutual aid and acting jointly as a kind of United States has even existed. &. But those institutions, and the market in­ corporate Chieftain, the power of the centives that had served to maintain them, storgodhar would have been severely un­ Bibliography had now been undermined. Iceland saw its dercut. Local control and accountability first full-scale battles as power struggles would have been strengthened, and the Bruce Benson. The E:nterprise ofLaw: Justice among the elite families and their respective centralizing of power reversed. For that Without the State. Pacific Research Institute, San Francisco, 1990. supporters erupted across the land. This was matter, if the supply ofChieftaincies had not Jesse L. Byock. Feud in the Icelandic Saga. the Sturlung Period ( 1230-1262), named been regulated by the legislature - or if University of California Press, Berkeley, 1982. after one of the most important storgodhar there had been competing legislatures - it Jesse L. Byock. Medieval Iceland. University families. would have been much harder to institute of California Press, Berkeley, I 988. Norwegian influence served to exacer­ the tithe law in the first place. Instead, the Tom W. Bell. "Polycentric Law." Humane bate the conflict. The King of Norway had legal cap on Chieftaincies artificially re­ Studies Review, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1991/92. always been lurking in the backgroW1d, and stricted the supply of political power, while David Friedman. The Machinery ofFreedom: now it was understandably tempting to each the tithe law artificially subsidized the de­ Guide to a Radical Capitalism. Second Edition. of the various competing parties to attempt mand for such power; a centralization of Open Court, La Salle, 1989. Chapter 44. David Friedman. "Private Creation and En­ to enlist him on their side. These shifting power in a few hands was the inevitable forcement of Law: A Historical Case." Journal alliances and power plays further destabi­ result. The instability of the Icelandic Free ofLegal Studies 8, 1979. lized the Icelandic situation, as King Haakon Commonwealth lay not in its anarchistic, Albert Loan. "Institutional Bases of the Spon­ of Norway eagerly encouraged conflict, polycentric features hut in its gEconomics, Free Commonwealth, founded 332 years of religious freedom, and no King Haakon George Mason University, 1991 . earlier by refugees from the tyranny of in 1262 to encourage conflict and exploit its Norway's first monarch, Harald Fairhair, consequences. The problem of foreign states fell at last under the yoke of a Norwegian and the threat they pose is one of the most 1$ing. important ones for theorists of private law to Libertarians: MOR.AL: discuss and resolve. Yet despite the incipient monocentrism at STOP The Icelandic Free Commonwealth's home and the monocentric Norwegian threat downfall was not that it was too anarchistic, next door, Iceland's polycentric legal sys­ but rather that it was not anarchistic enough! tem was so stable that the seeds of corrup­ COMPLAINING Suppose Iceland had maintained compe­ tion took a remarkably long time to bloom: tition in religion the way it had competition from the forcible conversion at the end of START in law. Or again, suppose Iceland had the tenth century, to the compulsory tithe at continued to rely solely on voluntary sup­ the end of the eleventh century, to the final port for religion rather than making the tithe collapse in the mid-thirteenth century. Is BUILDING mandatory. In either case, the owners of this the instability of anarchy portrayed by Churchsteads would not have had an auto­ Hobbesians? Join the matic guarantee of income, and so could not Moreover, as David Friedman has pointed have accumulated wealth and power with­ out, examination of the historical evidence Free Nation out being subject to competition and ac­ indicates that the murder rate in Ice'land countable to their clients. during the Sturlung Period - the era that Moreover, if the upper limit on the total Icelanders regarded as so intolerably violent Foundation

page 6 Formulations Vol. I, No. 3, Spring 1994 Notes on the History oligarchy would grow up around the mon­ of Legal Systems /,.,.--..,__, ,-.:::-., arch. These aristocrat-; became the deposi­ / l tory and administrators of the law. This was by Bobby Yates Emory \, the epoch of customary law. English com­ mon law pretends to he of this type (at one Introduction time, the judges relied on mies, principles, Ifwe are to live with others, we must have and distinctions not fully known to lawyers a way to resolve the inevitable disputes. or the public), hut it is today based on written Perhaps we also need to have a code to precedents. provide a framework for our relations with others. We need to be able to create contractr; A Le~al Code that are enforceable over Jong time periods. Finally a legal code is written down. This So if we are to design the institutions for a usually occurs just after the invention of free society, we must include a legal system writing. Often the initial code mixes civil, in our deliberations. religious, and moral issues. But at last we Although our primary purpose is to create have arrived at a stage where the legal sys­ proposals for the future, we may get some tem becomes regonizable. Usually the ini­ ideas or, at least, some inspiration, from Bobby Emory tial code retains the flavor of the earlier: studying the history of legal systems. Per­ patriarchal era and primarily deals with re­ haps we can avoid some of the mistakes that these are the systems they lived under. lationships between families or between the have already been made. patriarchs of the families. The Patriarch In English history, this occurred in 800 Philosophical Foundations In the earliest records and in the observa­ when King Alfred the Great declared that Since the legal system will be one of the tions of more primitive cultures by more the law would be written before the fact so few areas where we will allow the use of advanced, the earliest stage of development that people could know what the law was. (I compulsion, we must be very careful to is characterized by people Jiving in small date the beginning of the Libertarian revo­ select a system that will not violate our groups based on kinship and ruled by the lution from this point.) philosophy. A legal system is certainly a eldest male. Usually the ruler was deter­ "useful servant but a fearful master." This mined by very strict customs of descent lndiv idY!ili study will not comment on the philosophy through the eldest sons from the "original" Next, the legal code begins to deal with appropriate to the legal systems discussed. ancestor. Often his rule was quite complete individuals rather than just the patriarch. It Suffice it to say that most of them are more and almost always included property, earn­ even begins to regulate relations within the appropriate to statism than to freedom. ings, an~ contract. This was entirely at the family. caprice of the patriarch, with the ruled having The Evolution of Law none of what we would think of as rights. Contractual Relationships If we look hack at the history of law in But the patriarch did have a customary re­ Finally, relationships within a legal sys­ many societies, we can discern the same sponsibility to provide for his family. And tem begin to be determined more by contracts evolution taking place in the same sequence. males having obtained the age of majority than by the status of the actors. The most • First, people Jive in family units with could free themselves from the rule of their obvious is employment, which becomes a rule by the patriarch. father anti even start their own patriarchy. matter of contract between parties rather • Second, a patriarchal sovereign, who is than master and slave. This process can be usually heroic, issues rulings in indi­ The Sovereiim observed in historical times and is still vidual cases after the fact. Later there develops a sovereign ruling proceeding today. • Third, customs grow up from the over a collection of families. This rule is in sovereign's rulings. the style of the patriarch: he issues rulings Ancient Legal Codes • Fourth, a code is created. This code after the fact and without reference to any One of the most important steps a society bears on relationships between families established rules. Primitive man at this takes is reducing its legal structure to a or between the patriarchs of the families. stage supposed that the gods (Themis to the written code. It provides three important Fifth, the code begins to hear on indi­ Greeks) dictated to the king what to award. protections to a society: viduals rather than families. 1hemistes was the name for the awards. a) It reduces the likelihood and the magni­ • Sixth, more relationships are defined Note that these are not laws but judgments. tude of the excesses of the legal oligarchy. by contracts, i.e., "a movement from By a pattern of themistes, a custom was b) It helps reduce the degradation of na­ Status to Contract." 1 created (as opposed to the theory that the tional traditions. Accustomed as we are to legal systems with laws embody the customs of a previous era). c) It reduces the likelihood of supersti­ voluminous codes and well defined proce­ tious extension of the prohibitions in the dures for contracts, many of these don't Customary Law original code. sound like much of a legal system to our Usually the initial kings were heroic, but ears. But foc most of the existence of humans, often feebler monarchs followed. Often an (continued on page 8)

Formulations Vol. I, No. 3, Spring 1994 page 7 History of Legal Systems (from p. 7) need for this court grew from the presence of International Law and the Law of War. many foreigners and their subsequent legal International Law came from the idea that Methods of Legal Improvements needs. Rome was unwilling to allow them to nations are equal (even if one is over­ Western European civilization is a rare use the system set up for Roman citizens. whelmingly more powerful than the other). exception in the history of the world. Most An alien could not use the normal Roman societies have not had the objective of im­ law courts or make contracts. The lawyers Primitive Society and Ancient Law proving their legal system. Where societies got around this by creating a new law: Jus Le&al Writini: have attempted to be progressive, social Gentium. In theory this law was supposedly Much of legal writing has been a restate­ necessities and social opinion are usually composed of those laws common to all ment of the Roman thesis of natural law. ahead of the law. The happiness of the nations (actually just the other Italian tribes, There are some exceptions: Montesquieu's people depends on how quickly the gap is because that was all they knew at the time). Esprit des Lois stated that laws come from narrowed. The improvements usually come · It was not held in high regard at the time of local circumstance, that the nature of man is in three ways, and they usually develop in its creation, but was forced by political and entirely plastic. He underrates the stability this order: First, legal fictions bridge over commercial necessity. of the race and the inherited qualities of problems. Second, equity courts provide a The theory of the Law of Nature came individuals. He doesn't realize that, in means of relief. Third, legislation brings the from Greece later; the Stoic philosophy was Maine's words, • An approximation of truth law nearer the improved social opinion. very popular among lawyers. This led to may be all that is attainable with our present A legal fiction is an assumption that Prretors wanting their Edicts to restore an knowledge, but there is no reason for think­ changes the operation of a law without assumed natural law. Thus Jus Gentium ing that [truth] is so remote or (what is the changing the letter of the law. For example, gained respect. The Prretor was the supreme same thing) that it requires so much future an adoption allows a family tie to he created justice of Rome, but held office for only one correction, as to [make our present knowl­ even though the child was not born into the year. The Prretors were drawn from lawyers edge] be entirely useless and uninstructive." family. or controlled by lawyers. At the beginning Bentham held that societies modify laws for Equity courts' reason for existence is that of his term, the new Prretor explained what general expediency. Most legal theories they supersede civil law on the grounds of he intended to do in an Edict; such an Edict have not examined antiquity; yet we have superior sanctity, often expressed as pro­ was usually a minor modification of his always had evidence of early social states viding more just decisions. predecessor's. from three sources: accounts by contempo­ Legislation includes any agency for raries ofless advanced civilizations; records changing the code, from rulings by a despot Law of Nature by primitive societies of their history; and to representative assembly deliberations. The idea behind the Law of Nature con­ ancient law texts. Today we would have to Two of these steps, legal fictions and fuses past and future. It implicitly assumes add archaeology and anthropology. equity courts, need more explanation. a past state of nature ruled by a natural law. It assumes society can change toward a Pa.![iarchy Lei:al Fictions perfect future - an idea picked up from From ancient law we get the Patriarchal Leg!ll fictions usually come into being Christianity. It has been very important to Theory. In the earliest history of most when a change is needed but no one wants to the evolution of thought. Roman lawyers societies the Father rnled the entire family. appear to he making changes. In the English worked to perfect the "elegance" of their Earliest states dealt with families, not indi­ common law system, before a decision is law. But the Law of Nature has much viduals. Adoption was used to include out­ reached the theory is that any case can be influenced modem law. Even though France siders who wanted to join the society. When decided on existing precedents, but after the had a very confusing law, with different recruitment by adoption stopped and out­ decision is handed down, this case affects all laws for different people and different laws siders were still drawn to a society, the future cases that are similar. The Roman for different jurisdictions, the Law of Nature growth of aristocracy began. Although these Responsa Prudentum operated in a similar provided a theory and an article of faith for societies were very restrictive, adult males manner, except for three details of procedure: lawyers. were able to withdraw from the family. the proceedngs could consider hypothetical Then in the middle of the 18th century Lineage followed males only, as the Scot­ cases; decisions were made by lawyers rather there occurred the most important event in tish clans still do. This implies reduced than judges; and entry to the bar (and the evolution of the Law of Nature: the rights for women. But after the Law of therefore to the ability to render decisions) writings of Rousseau. He widely influenced Nature became fashionable in Rome, women was open to anyone. many levels of people. Rousseau held, in began having e.qual rights. Dark ages reduced the words of Sir Henry Maine, that "A per­ women's status again. Slavery also is illus­ Equity Courts and the Appearance of the fect social order could he evolved from [a] trative of primitive legal thinking. Slaves Law of Nature natural state." Unfortunately, in disdaining were considered members of the family, The equity court of England is the Court the superstitions of the priests, the adherents because the slave was subject to the com­ of Chancery. It received its guidance from of natural law "flung themselves headlong mands of the head of the family. By con­ Canon Law (religious), from Roman law, into a superstition of the lawyer." This led trast, English common law (which came and from the mixture of jurisprudence and to many of the disappointments of the French later) regarded slaves as chattel property. morals in the Low Countries. The equity Revolution: "its tendency is to become court of Rome was the Jus Gentium. The distinctly anarchical." It also gave birth to (colltinued on page 9)

page8 .Formulations Vol. I, No. 3, Spring 1994 History of Legal Systems (from p. 8) FNF President Enters Foundation. Indeed, the earliest and some Local Political Contest of the most enthusiastic support for this project has come from local Republicans. The Early History of Property by Richard Hammer Because Roman law referred to certain I filed for the office only a few minutes before the closing deadline. Two factors ways of obtaining property as natural, people I would like to report to readers of For­ motivated me: I) No moderate or non­ have assumed those were "natural" ways; mulations that in February I filed to run for socialist candidates had entered the race. It hut if we look further back we see a different Commissioner here in Orange County, North looked like all my friends (conservative pattern. Similar to other aspects of ancient Carolina. I face no primary since I was the law, property rights were held by family Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and only Republican to file. In November I will members oflandowners' and taxpayers' as­ units. In India, village~family groups) held contend with three Democrats, those who sociations) would have no one for whom to property in common; in Russia, the serf survive the Democratic primary in May, to communities held property in common. vote. 2) Politics is in my blood. I enjoy it. & fill three seats on the five-person Board. It is an uphill contest. A local new~l)aper Roman Property checked records going back to the 1930s and Dialogue Under Roman law, three elements were reported that no Republican has won in that necessary for possession: occupancy, ad­ Restitutive Justice and time. The major demographic feature in verse possession (holding for exclusive use), Orange County is Chapel Hill, a liberal, the Costs of Restraint and prescription (keeping over a periopolitical party "Government is a bad drug,"·saying too moment when retaliation might be possible, offices from Precinct Chairman to Regional many people are hooked, and the local press may return to inflict harm on another day. Representative to the National Committee. has given me favorable coverage, echoing Then is retaliatory coercion justified? (for free!) my slogan a few times. Thus my Also, I wonder about the economics of all campaign will have an unusual style. But I this. For starters, I think an effective system Subscribe to believe for me it will feel right. of law enforcement should pay for itself. My campaign for public office will have People naturally want to economize, so a formllltf{JJ,rtiol!71s no connection with the work of the Free system may fail if desirable behaviors cost Nation Foundation, except of course within more than undesirable behaviors. Suppose me: these are two separate efforts to ad­ a citizen has to choose between restraining $10 for four issues (one year) vance the same philosophy. Local friends know about my work in the Free Nation (continued 011 page 11) Formu~ations Vol. I, No. 3, Spring 1994 page9 The Nature of Law tary rather than coercive. An ex_ample of Part I: Law and Order voluntary law is the Law Merchant, a sys­ tem of commercial law that emerged in the Without Government late Middle Ages in response to the need for by Roderick T. Long a common set of standards to govern inter­ national trade. The merchants, fed up with Most peopie take the terms order, law, the excessive rigidity of governmental laws and government to be coextensive. Without regulating commerce, and frustrated by the government, there would be no law. With­ lack of uniformity among the commercial out law, there would be no social order. In codes of different nations, simply formed fact, however, the three concepts are dis­ their own Europe-wide system of courts and tinct. legal codes. For enforcement, the Law Law may be defined as that institution or Merchant relied not on state-imposed pen­ set of institutions in a given society that alties but on credit reports; those who re­ adjudicates conflicting clairns· and secures fused to abide by the system's rules and compliance in a formal, systematic, and Roderick ltJng decisions would have a hard time finding orderly way. Law thus defined is one spe­ other merchants willing to deal with them. cies of social order, but not the whole of it; rejects order or law or even coercive law, but (The case of the Law Merchant shows that there are also less formal mechanisms for rather one who rejects government. The systems of private law need not depend on maintaining.social order. Indeed, tlie vast anarchist argues that informal order, volun­ kinship or other local ties for their success.) bulk of cooperation in society in fact de­ tary law, and polycentric coercive law are When law is coercive, it need not be pends on informal order rather than on law. sufficient to maintain social cooperation; monocentric. For example, under early the advocate of government argues that Angk>-Saxon law, Kings made foreign policy Varieties of Law monocentric coercive law is needed in addi­ only; domestic policy was left to local courts Law may be subdivided into voluntary tion, and indeed typically maintains that the called Moots, which simply enforced agreed­ and coercive law, depending on the means amount of social order that can be main- . upon local customs. Neither Kings nor whereby compliance is secured. Voluntary tained through non-governmental sources Moots had any power of domestic enforce­ law, as the name implies, relies solely on alone is quite small. ment; it was up to individuals to enforce the voluntary means, such as social pressure, Yet a great deal of social order is main­ law by private coercion. Such individuals boycotts, and the like, in order to secure tained through informal means alone. In generally formed associations called borhs, compliance with the results of adjudication. Order Without Law: How Neighbors Settle pledging security for one another's reliabil­ Coercive law, on the other hand, relies at Disputes, economist Robert Ellickson has ity; even here, much enforcement was least in part on force and threats of force. shown how disputes over land use are fre­ through social sanction (being denied Coercive law in turn may be further sub­ quently resolved informally, without re­ membership in a borh) rather than coercion. divided into monocentric and polycentric course to official adjudication, and certainly coercive law. Under monocentric coercive without recourse to legal statutes (the rel­ Public Goods vs. Public Choice law, there is a single institution that claims, evant statutes being generally unknown to Thus private law, whether strictly volun­ and in large part achieves, a coercive mo­ the disputing parties in any case). More tary or also coercive, has proven itself his­ nopoly on the use of force to adjudicate broadly, Robert Axelrod in The Evolution of torically as an effective provider of social claims and secure compliance in a given Cooperation has explained why coopera­ order. But the anarchist's point is not simply territorial area. This institution is called a tion is generally a successful strategy and that monocentric law is not necessary in order government, and everyone other than the thus why it tends to be "selected for" by the to maintain social order, but more funda­ government and its agents is forbidden to market, as cooperative relationships emerge mentally that introducing monocentrism into adjudicate by force. Under polycentric law, and grow spontaneously without being di­ the picture actually decreares social order. by contrast, no one agency claims or pos­ rected by any authority. Advocates of government assume that sesses such a monopoly. When there is a need for the more formal non-governmental mechanisms for achiev­ An anarchist, then, is not someone who mechanism of law, this law may be volun- ing order will be ineffective because of public-goods problems - specifically, the ORDER problem that unless people are forced to cooperate, each person will have an incen­ Informal------LAW tive to free-ride on the cooperation of others Order /'-...... without cooperating himself. This argument Voluntary Coercive is often taken to show the necessity of law /law'-.....,_ government. But if market solutions are beset by per­ Polycentric Monocentric verse incentives caused hy public-goods coercive law coercive law (government) (continued on page 11) page JO Formulations Vol. I, No. 3, Spring 1994 Nature of Law (from p. 10) lion of crime control, I expect that this ahly be prisoner's-rights advocacy groups, science could show how a system of private just as there are today. Organizations op­ prohlems, governmental solutions are like­ law could work. And I expect this science posing the death penalty, such as Amnesty wise beset hy perverse incentives caused by could also show that most familiar failures International, the Libertarian Party, or the public-choice problems: monopolies that in crime control are tragedy-of-the-com­ ACLU, could raise money to fund prisons; collect revenues hy force are not account­ mons failures; government acts invariably this would free private protection agencies ahle to their clients, and state officials need create, or codify, public spaces in which of the costs of restraint, thus removing both not bear the financial cost of their decisions; certain acts of cheating will he rewarded. the incentive to kill and any plausible legiti­ inefficiency is the inevitable result. Since macy to killing. (And frankly, I'd rather live both systems involve perverse incentives, Roderick Long: Rich Hammer raises the in a prison nm by Amnesty International the important question is: which system is following questions about my article: if than one run by a for-profit protection better at overcoming such incentives? defensive coercion is justified but retaliatory agency!) & And here the answer is clear. Under a coercion is not, what happens when a) de­ market system, entrepreneurs stand to reap fensive coercion is much more expensive FNF Director Lectures (from p. 1) financial rewards by figuring out ways to than retaliatory coercion, or b) a given supply "public" goods while excluding free society's mechanisms of defensive coercion corporate the insights of the ancient Greek riders. Thus the system that creates the are simply not functioning very well? Un­ philosopher Aristotle. Discussion was lively. perverse incentives also creates the very der such circumstances, are people still On July 30, Dr. Long gave a talk on incentives to overcome them. That's why morally required to refrain from retaliatory "Consequentialist vs. Deontological Liber­ every so-called "public" good has been sup­ coercion? And whatever morality may re­ tarianism: What Is and What Isn't at Stake" plied privately at one time or another in quire, isn't it simply realistic to suppose that to an audience at the Institute for Humane history. Governments, by contrast, must by under such circumstances any private legal Studies at George Mason University, Fairfax, definition forbid competition. Thus gov­ system is going to engage in retaliatory Virginia. Dr. Long distinguished between ernments, unlike markets, have no way of coercion as a matter of economic necessity? arguments for liberty based on individual solving their incentive prohlerns. We would These are good questions. Let me deal rights, and arguments for liberty based on he well-advised, then, to buy our law on the with the moral issue first. My brief answer social welfare; he argued that although the market rather than from the state. bi, here is that whether a given coercive re­ argument from rights explains why liber­ sponse counts as defensive or as retaliatory tarianism is correct, the argument from so­ Roderick T. Long is Assistant Professor of may depend on precisely such circumstances cial welfare is also needed in order to justify Philosophy at the University of North as those that Rich mentions. the belief that libertarianism is correct. Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is currently In my article I defined retaliatory coer­ On November 13, Dr. Long lectured on completing a b,x,k on the /rf!e will problem cion as coercion that exceeds the extent the subjects of "Rights and Liberty" and in Aristotle. necessary to defend against an aggressor. "The Ethics of Redistribution" at an Insti­ Suppose I attack you. If there are no police, tute for Humane Studies Conference on Restitutive Justice (from p. 9) or if the police are unable or unwilling to Classical Liberalism and Contemporary Is­ defend you, then a coercive action on your sues, Warrenton, Virginia. Dr. Long argued a threat, for the cost of$ I00/day, or shooting part (e.g., killing me) that would ordinarily that property rights are an extension of our a threat, for a one-time cost of $1 . These not be necessary has become necessary - rights to control our own bodies, and distin­ incentives alone do not encourage the be­ and thus what would have been retaliatory guished between permissible (restitutive) havior we might desire. coercion is now merely defensive. Similar and impermissible (aggressive) grounds for Also, we have to expect that criminals remarks apply to the issue of expense: if you redistribution. Discussion focused on the perform their own sorts of cost-benefit stud­ have to spend an unreasonable amount of problem of restitution to Native Americans. ies. No doubt they balance the prospect of money to restrain me from attacking you, As this issue goes to print, Dr. Long is success with the cost and probability of then I am in effect depriving you of your preparing to give a talk on "Immanent Lib­ getting caught. Ideally, if defensive coer­ money through my aggressive coercion, and eralism" at a Social Philosophy and Policy cion worked perfectly, then no criminal if the cost to you is great enough then you Conference on the Just Society, Bowling would ever succeed, and criminals would may become justified in killing me in order Green, Ohio, April 7- 10. He plans to distin­ stop trying because their attempts would be to defend your property. (The cut-off point guish between two varieties of liberalism: a wasting their efforts. But, because of the is the point at which the cost to you is so s.;te-oriented version, that attempts to real­ law of diminishing returns, this ideal state great that a defensive killing ceases to be ize the liberal ideal of mutual consent vi­ may never be reached. A 100% perfect morally disproportionate to the aggression.) cariously, through the mechanism of demo­ defense may cost ten times as much as a 99% But if some alternative, low-cost means of cratic government, and a libertarian version, perfect defense. So we can expect some restraint were available, then you would not that attempts to realize that same ideal im­ huyers of protection to balk at buying the be justified in killing me - for then such a manently, in day-to-day voluntary interac­ last I%, and the free-market equilibrium killing would no longer be necessary for tions in society. Dr. Long will argue that the may be a state in which some crime always defensive purposes. And this is where the tension between these two approaches may pays. economic issue comes in also. Under a be found in both capitalist and socialist If there is a science of economic calcula- private legal system, there would presum- versions of liberalism. &

.Formulations Vol. I, No. 3, Spring 1994 page 11 A University Built by by the government),the other membersof rather than by its individualmembers acting the Invisible Hand his "nation"would chip into help. Eachwas independently. At this point we can finally by RoderickT. Long willing to pledge a contributionto thegroup translate universitas as "University.• for this purpose, in exchange for the assur­ As employees of the student-run Univer­ The history of theUniversity of Bologna ance that hewould himself beable to draw sity, professorsco uld be finedi f they didn't offersan example of how the spontaneous­ on thesepooled resources in time of need. begin and end lectures on time, or if they ordermechanisms underlying market anar­ In time the different "nations" found it didn't finish coursem aterial by the end of chism - mechanismslike mutual-aidsurety usefulto spreadthe risk still morewidely by the course. A committee of students was associations and competing legal jurisdic­ combining together into a larger organiza­ assigned to keep an eye on the professors tioos- can operatein a university setting. tioncalled a universitas. This was notyet a andt o report anymisbehavior; the members Manymed.ireval universities were fiom nm university in the modernsense; the closest of this committeewere officiallycalled the the top down. The University of Paris, for English equivalent tothe Latin universitas Denouncers of Professors. example, was founded, organized, and is "corporation." The universitas was es­ The professors were not completely funded by the government, and students sentiallya cooperativeventure bystudents; powerless; they formed a collective-bar­ were underthe strictregulation andcootrol theprofea!ors were not ofpert theuniversita.f. gaining association of their own, the Col­ of the faculty. But the Universityof Bolo­ The universitas was democratically gov­ lege of Teachers, and woo the right to de­ gnawas runfrom the bottom up - con­ erned;regular businesswas cooductedby a termine both examination feesand require­ trolledby students and funded by students. representative council consisting of two ments for the degree. A balance of rights As for its founding, nobody ever really members fromeach "nation,• while impor­ thus emerged through negotiation: the ob­ started the University - it just sort of tant matters were decided by the majority ligations of professors were determined by happened.University The of Bolognaarose vote of anassembly consistingof the entire the students, while the obligations of stu­ spontaneously, through the interactions of membershipof the universitas. (The simi­ dents were determined by thepro fessors. It individuals who were trying to do some­ larityto the ancient Athenianconstitution is was a power-sharingsc heme; the students, thing else. striking.) The universitas adjudicated in­ however, continued to act as the dominant Inthe 12th century, Bolognawas a center ternal disputes and providedwelfare relief partner, since they were the paying clients of intellectual and cultural life. Students to its members. and collectively curledmore clout. came to Bologna from all over Europe to Oncethe universitasbad been formed,the This quasi-anarchistic setupwa s eventu­ study with prominentscholars. These in­ studentsnow bad av ailable· to thema means ally brought to an end when the city gov-· dividual professors were notoriginally or­ of effective collectivebargaining withthe emment took over and began paying pro­ ganizedinto a tmiversity;each one operated city government(rather likea modemtrades­ fessors directly from tax revenues, thus freelance,offering courses on his own and union). The students wereable to exercise convertingthe University of Bologna into a charging whatever fees studentswere will­ considerableleverage in their di sputes with publicly-funded institution. Whether we ing to pay. If a professorwas a lomyteacher thecity because if the studentsdecided to go interpret this move as public-spirited altru­ or charged too much, his students would on "strike" by leaving the city, the profes­ ism oras a cynical power grab, in either case switch to a different professor; professors sors would follow their paying clients and the result was that professors became de­ bad to competefor students, and wouldget the city would losean important sourceof pendenton the city government rather than paid only if students found their courses revenue. Sothe city gave in.recogni:zed the on thestudents, whol ost their earli« leverage worth taking. rights of foreign students, and granted the as power shifted from the student body to Bolognasoon became crowded with for­ universitas civil and criminal jurisdiction the Bolognesepoliticians. /!t,. eign students. But being a foreigner in over its own members. Although the Bolognahad its disadvantages; aliens. were universitas was a purelyprivate organiza­ Principal source: HaroldJ . Bennan. Law and subject to various sorts of legal disabilities. tion,it acquired thestatus ofan independent Revolution: 'TMFormation ofthe Western Legal For example, aliens were held responsible legal systemexisting within, butnot strictly Trodition. HarvardUniversity Press, Cambri dge, for the debts of their fellow countrymen; subordinate to, the frameworkof city gov­ 1983. thatis, if John, an English merchant, owed trnment. money to Giovanni, a Bolognese native,and How did the universitas of Bologna be­ Toward A Free Nation, $2.00 John skippedtown, then innocent bystander come the University of Bologna? Well, if James were an English after all, this new means of effective bar­ James, citizen, This booklet, 8 pages long, explains· the could berequired by Bologneselaw to pay gainingwith the city couldalso be used as a context of the work undertaken by the to Giovannithe money owed by John. meansof effectivecollective bargaining with Free Nation Foundation. It was written The foreign students therefore began to theprofe.v.fors. Thestudents, organiltld into by Richard Hammer, and used as a pro­ band together, for mutual insurance and a universitas, could control professors by spectus while seeking collaborators in protection,into associations called "nations,• boycotting classes and withholding fees. the Foundation. Additional copies, be­ accordingto theirvarious nationalities; one This gave the universita.v the powerto de­ yond the first in an order, may be pur­ "nation• would becomposed of all English termine the length and subject-matter of chased for $1.00 each. studtmts, another of all Frenchstudents, and courses, and the fees of professors. Soon (e.g., Send to: Free Nation Foundation, soon. If any studentneeded assistance professors found themselves being hired [outdated address], Hillsborough NC 27278 in paying otherpeople's debts as demanded and fired by the universitas as a whole, page 12 Formulations Vol. I, No. 3, Spring 1994