From: C
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2016 9:15 AM
To: wblock@loyno.edu
Subject: Question regarding libertarian theory

Professor Block,
As a daily reader of the LRC I see that you have answered readers questions about libertarian theory. I recently had a conversation with a gentleman who encountered a situation similar to this, but I have created the ending. Please help with this hypothetical:

A man named Chad (who carries a concealed handgun) is getting out of his car in a rough part of town. A homeless man approaches him and offers to wash his windshield for $5. Chad agrees and the man washes the windshield. Chad pulls out his wallet and gives the man the money. The homeless person sees inside Chad’s wallet and notices that he has quite a lot of money. He demands that chad give him the rest of it. Chad, feeling threatened brandishes his weapon. The homeless man backs off, but Chad, now angry, demands that the homeless person give him back the original $5.

Could this outcome be consistent with libertarianism? Is Chad bringing proper justice to the homeless man, or is his reaction too far? The $5 was earned properly, so I am having issues about the justice of this scenario. What do you think about this case?
Sincerely, C

Dear C:

I think this homeless man deserves punishment of far more than $5. Well, I guess it depends upon what “demands” means. If this criminal threatened Chad, as I’m assuming, then he should be put in jail for a nice long period while he works at hard labor to pay what he owes to Chad.

Here are some libertarian views on punishment theory:

https://archive.lewrockwell.com/block/block26.html

Block, 1999, 2002-2003, 2003a, 2003b, 2004a, 2004b, 2006, 2009; Block, Barnett and Callahan, 2005; Gregory and Block, 2007; Olson, 1979; Rothbard, 1998, p. 88; Whitehead and Block, 2003

Block, Walter E. 1999. “Market Inalienability Once Again: Reply to Radin,” Thomas Jefferson Law Journal, Vol. 22, No. 1, Fall, pp. 37-88; http://www.walterblock.com/publications/market_inalienability.pdf;

Block, Walter E. 2002-2003. “Berman on Blackmail: Taking Motives Fervently,” Florida State University Business Review, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 57-114; http://www.law.fsu.edu/current_students/organizations/businessreview/vol3/block.pdf

Block, Walter E. 2003A. “Libertarianism vs. Objectivism; A Response to Peter Schwartz,” Reason Papers, Vol. 26, Summer, pp. 39-62; http://www.reasonpapers.com/pdf/26/rp_26_4.pdf

Block, Walter E. 2003B. “The Non-Aggression Axiom of Libertarianism,” February 17; https://archive.lewrockwell.com/block/block26.html
(15th floor flagpole)

Block, Walter E. 2004a. Austrian Law and Economics: The Contributions of Adolf Reinach and Murray Rothbard, Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Vol. 7, No. 4, Winter, pp. 69-85; http://www.mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae7_4_5.pdf

Block, Walter E. 2004b. “Reply to Frank van Dun’s ‘Natural Law and the Jurisprudence of Freedom,’” Journal of Libertarian Studies. Vol. 18, No. 2, Spring, pp. 65-72.

Block, Walter E. 2006. “Radical Libertarianism: Applying Libertarian Principles to Dealing with the Unjust Government, Part II” Reason Papers, Vol. 28, Spring, pp. 85-109; http://www.walterblock.com/publications/block_radical-libertarianism-rp.pdf; http://www.walterblock.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/block_radical-libertarianism-rp.pdf; http://www.reasonpapers.com/pdf/28/rp_28_7.pdf; (death penalty justified, net taxpayer, ruling class analysis p. 87)

Block, Walter E. 2009. “Libertarian punishment theory: working for, and donating to, the state” Libertarian Papers, Vol. 1; http://libertarianpapers.org/2009/17-libertarian-punishment-theory-working-for-and-donating-to-the-state/

Block, Walter E., William Barnett II and Gene Callahan. 2005. “The Paradox of Coase as a Defender of Free Markets,” NYU Journal of Law & Liberty, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 1075-1095; http://www.nyujll.org/articles/Vol.%201%20No.%203/Vol.%201%20No.%203%20-%20Barnett,%20Block%20and%20Callahan.pdf; http://www.walterblock.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/barnett-block-callahan_paradox-coase-2005.pdf;
Reprinted in Mario Rizzo, ed. 2011. Austrian Law and Economics; The Definitive Collection; Edward Elgar; http://thinkmarkets.wordpress.com/2011/07/29/austrian-law-and-economics-the-definitive-collection/; http://tinyurl.com/2hbzd4

Gregory, Anthony and Walter E. Block. 2007. “On Immigration: Reply to Hoppe.” Journal of Libertarian Studies, vol. 21, No. 3, Fall, pp. 25-42; http://mises.org/journals/jls/21_3/21_3_2.pdf; http://www.academia.edu/1360109/On_Immigration_Reply_to_Hoppe

Olson, Charles B. 1979. “Law in Anarchy.” Libertarian Forum. Vol. XII, No. 6, November-December, p. 4; http://64.233.167.104/u/Mises?q=cache:gFT18_ZusWoJ:www.mises.org/journals/lf/1979/1979_11-12.pdf+two+teeth+for+a+tooth&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Rothbard, Murray N. 1998 The Ethics of Liberty, New York: New York University Press. http://www.mises.org/rothbard/ethics/ethics.asp;

In the view of Rothbard (1998, p. 88, ft. 6): “It should be evident that our theory of proportional punishment—that people may be punished by losing their rights to the extent that they have invaded the rights of others—is frankly a retributive theory of punishment, a ‘tooth (or two teeth) for a tooth’ theory. Retribution is in bad repute among philosophers, who generally dismiss the concept quickly as ‘primitive’ or ‘barbaric’ and then race on to a discussion of the two other major theories of punishment: deterrence and rehabilitation. But simply to dismiss a concept as ‘barbaric’ can hardly suffice; after all, it is possible that in this case, the ‘barbarians’ hit on a concept that was superior to the more modern creeds.”

Whitehead, Roy and Walter E. Block. 2003. “Taking the assets of the criminal to compensate victims of violence: a legal and philosophical approach,” Wayne State University Law School Journal of Law in Society Vol. 5, No. 1, Fall, pp.229-254

Best regards,

Walter

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