Non-Coercive Justice and Simple Punishment

"The common law that developed in the Middle Ages had some elements of non-coercive enforcement, though decisions were not always enforced in a libertarian manner. However, the unique law that was developed by merchants did have this character. Bruce Benson explains that merchant courts developed because the other options of the time, royal courts or common law courts, would not honor contracts regarding the payment of interest or would not allow books of account as evidence. (3) Benson also explains how the decisions of these courts were not backed by violence but rather from the voluntary boycotting of other merchants. Quoting William Wooldridge, “Merchants made their courts work simply by agreeing to abide by the results. The merchant who broke the understanding would not be sent to jail, to be sure, but neither would he long be a merchant, for the compliance exacted by his fellows, their power over his goods, proved if anything more effective than physical coercion.” (4)

The merchant law settled contract disputes and resolved issues such as fraud. Though the scope of the law was limited, there is no reason to expect that such a system could not be applied to all law. In fact, we can cite a modern system of law with voluntary enforcement that regulates all manner of behavior. This is the Amish code of conduct.

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The structure of a justice system in a stateless society is an intriguing question to libertarians and anarchists. Unfortunately, many suggestions for private courts and enforcement agencies set up nothing more than little competing states. Such “private” courts would be more like states in character because they must violently enforce their decisions. Furthermore, since it is unethical to coercively punish criminals, the stage is set for these illegitimate entities to keep enlarging their violations of rights. It is only a matter of degree between putting a thief on a chain gang and extorting payment from the people of a given region for the court’s dubious service of justice. The only alternative is to recognize that no one has the right to deprive criminals of their rights, and that any punishment must be accomplished by voluntary means. Aside from being the libertarian solution for justice, such a system would promote community and prevent any court from quietly becoming a government and landing us back in the situation we have today. "

Jacob Halbrooks, strike-the-root