"By 'invasion' I mean the invasion of the individual sphere, which is
bounded by the line inside of which liberty of action does not conflict
with others' liberty of action."[675] This boundary-line is in part
unmistakable; for instance, a threat is not an invasion if the
threatened act is not an invasion, "a man has a right to threaten what
he has a right to execute."[676] But the boundary-line may also be
dubious; for instance, "we cannot clearly identify the maltreatment of
child by parent as either invasive or non-invasive of the liberty of
third parties."[677] "Additional experience is continually sharpening
our sense of what constitutes invasion. Though we still draw the line by
rule of thumb, we are drawing it more clearly every day."[678] "The
nature of such invasion is not changed, whether it is made by one man
upon another man, after the manner of the ordinary criminal, or by one
man upon all other men, after the manner of an absolute monarch, or by
all other men upon one man, after the manner of a modern
democracy."[679]
"On the other hand, he who resists another's attempt to control is not
an aggressor, an invader, a governor, but simply a defender, a
protector."[680] "The individual has the right to repel invasion of his
sphere of action."[681] "Anarchism justifies the application of force to
invasive men,"[682] "violence is advisable when it will accomplish the
desired end and inadvisable when it will not."[683] And "defensive
associations acting on the Anarchistic principle would not only demand
redress for, but would prohibit, all clearly invasive acts. They would
not, however, prohibit non-invasive acts, even though these acts create
additional opportunity for invasive persons to act invasively: for
instance, the selling of liquor."[684] "And the nature of such
resistance is not changed whether it be offered by one man to another
man, as when one repels a criminal's onslaught, or by one man to all
other men, as when one declines to obey an oppressive law, or by all
other men to one man, as when a subject people rises against a despot,
or as when the members of a community voluntarily unite to restrain a
criminal."[685]
3.--LAW
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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