… is from page 125 of the 19th-century American jurist James Coolidge Carter’s posthumously published and brilliant, yet unfortunately neglected, 1907 volume, Law: Its Origin, Growth and Function:
When man made his first appearance upon earth, he did not wait until some lawgiver appeared to tell him how he must act.
DBx: This undeniable truth is implicitly denied by most people today. Pundits, professors, politicians, and pedestrians of nearly all ideological and political stripes suppose that each individual is either an inert blob or a chaotic fool unless and until the state injects him or her with the appropriate fuel – and gives to him or her detailed instructions for how – to act.
