… is from page 214 of the 1978 Arlington House edition of David Friedman’s 1973 book The Machinery of Freedom (link added); (I take Friedman here to mean “statutes” or “legislation” when he uses the word “law” or “laws”):
Since laws apply to everyone in their jurisdiction, whether or not he has worked or voted for them, good laws under governmental institutions are a public good and are consequently underproduced. Worse still, bad law is often less of a public “good” than good law. The result is that the laws of a government are worse, not better, than its citizens, in terms of their individual values and beliefs, “deserve.”
