RUNAWAY CHILDREN AND STARVATION

Marino Varricchio, Walter E Block

Abstract


In this paper, we argue that Rothbard’s version of the non-aggression principle, in conjunction with his account of self-ownership, is flawed. He interprets several acts that should be considered legal as criminal. First, he allows a three-year child to run away from his non-abusive parents and criminalizes the latter if they forcibly prevent this. Second, this author prohibits parents from forcing their two-year-old child to eat and drink, or have his diaper changed, when the baby refuses. We do not at all oppose the non-aggression principle. On the contrary, we reject Rothbard’s interpretation of it when he applies it to children. Our main criticism is that this author is contradictory with regards to the legal status of the relationship children/parents. First, he argues that parents, despite several limitations, own their children. Second, he states that children are self-owners. If this is the case, every aggression against them should be considered a criminal act.  However, since parents stand in a special legal relationship with their children, certain forms of aggression committed by them are legally permissible and, in certain cases, compulsory.


Keywords


Libertarianism; the non-aggression principle; children’s rights; parental rights; homesteading

Full Text:

PDF

References


Block, Walter E. (1977 Sep). Toward a Libertarian Theory of Abortion. The Libertarian Forum. 10(9), 6-8. http://www.mises.org/journals/lf/1977/1977_09.pdf

Block, Walter E. (1990). Earning Happiness Through Homesteading Unowned Land: a comment on 'Buying Misery with Federal Land' by Richard Stroup. Journal of Social Political and Economic Studies, 15(2), 237-253.

Block, W. & Yeatts, G. (1999-2000). The Economics and Ethics of Land Reform: A Critique of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace’s ‘Toward a Better Distribution of Land: The Challenge of Agrarian Reform’. Journal of Natural Resources and Environmental Law, 15(1), 37-69.

Block, W.E. (2001 Sep. 3). Stem Cell Research: The Libertarian Compromise. Retrieved from: http://archive.lewrockwell.com/block/block5.html

Block, W.E. (2002A). Homesteading City Streets; An Exercise in Managerial Theory. Planning and Markets, 5(1), 18-23. Retrieved from: http://www-pam.usc.edu/volume5/v5i1a2s1.html

Block, W.E. (2002B). On Reparations to Blacks for Slavery. Human Rights Review, 3(4), 53-73.

Block, W.E. (2003). Libertarianism vs. Objectivism; A Response to Peter Schwartz. Reason Papers, 26, 39-62; Retrieved from http://www.reasonpapers.com/pdf/26/rp_26_4.pdf

Block, W.E. (2004). Libertarianism, Positive Obligations, and Property Abandonment: Children’s Rights, International Journal of Social Economics, 31(3), 275-286. Retrieved from http://www.walterblock.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/block-children.pdf

Block, W. v. Epstein R. (2005). Debate on Eminent Domain. NYU Journal of Law & Liberty, 1(3), 1144-1169.

Block, W.E., & Whitehead, R. (2005). Compromising the Uncompromisable: A Private Property Rights Approach to Resolving the Abortion Controversy. Appalachian Law Review, 4(2) 1-45. Retrieved from http://www.walterblock.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/block-whitehead_abortion-2005.pdf

Block, W.E. (2008). Homesteading, ad coelum, owning views and forestalling. The Social Sciences, 3(2), 96-103. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1890872

Block, W.E. (2010A). A libertarian perspective on the stem cell debate: compromising the uncompromisable. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 35(4), 429-448. Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/jmp/article-abstract/35/4/429/858237

Block, W.E. (2010B). Van Dun on Freedom and Property: A Critique. Libertarian Papers, 2(4), 1-11. Retrieved from http://libertarianpapers.org/wp-content/uploads/article/2010/lp-2-4.pdf

Block, W.E. (2011). Terri Schiavo: A Libertarian Analysis. Journal of Libertarian Studies, 22, 527–536. http://mises.org/journals/jls/22_1/22_1_26.pdf

Block, W.E. & Edelstein, M.R. (2012). Popsicle sticks and homesteading land for nature preserves. Romanian Economic and Business Review, 7(1), 7-13. Retrieved from http://www.rebe.rau.ro/REBE%207%201.pdf

Block, W.E., Smith, E., & Reel, J. (2014). The Natural Rights of Children. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 2(2), 85-89.

Block, W.E., & Nelson, P.L. (2015). Water Capitalism: The Case for Privatizing Oceans, Rivers, Lakes, and Aquifers. New York City, N.Y.: Lexington Books; Rowman and Littlefield; Retrieved from https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498518802/Water-Capitalism-The-Case-for-Privatizing-Oceans-Rivers-Lakes-and-Aquifers.

Block, W.E. (2016). Forestalling, positive obligations and the Lockean and Blockian provisos: Rejoinder to Stephan Kinsella. Ekonomia Wroclaw Economic Review. Retrieved from http://ekon.sjol.eu/category/22-3-2016-529

Bylund, P. (2005 June). Man and Matter: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Justification of Ownership in Land from the Basis of Self-Ownership. Master thesis, Lund University. Retrieved from http://www.uppsatser.se/uppsats/a7eb17de8f/;

Bylund, P. (2012). Man and matter: How the former gains ownership of the latter. Libertarian Papers, 4(1). Retrieved from http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2012/lp-4-1-5.pdf

Feinberg, J. (1966 April). Duties, Rights, and Claims. American Philosophical Quarterly, 3(2), 137-144.

Feinberg, J. (1970 Dec). The Nature and Value of Rights. Journal of Value Inquiry, 4(4), 243-260

Gewirth, A. (1981 Jan). Are There Any Absolute Rights?. The Philosophical Quarterly, 31(122), 1-16.

Gordon, D. (2004 Fall). Liberty and Obedience. The Mises Review, 10(3).

Grotius, H. (1625). Law of War and Peace (De Jure Belli ac Pacis), 3 volumes. translated by A.C. Campbell, London, 1814.

Hohfeld, W. (1913 Nov). Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning. The Yale Law Journal, 23(1), 16-59.

Hohfeld, W. (1917 June). Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning. The Yale Law Journal, 26(8), 710-770.

Hoppe, H-H. (1989). A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism. Economics, Politics and Ethics, Boston, MA: Kluwer.

Hoppe, H-H. (1993). The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in Political Economy and Philosophy. Boston: Kluwer.

Hoppe, H-H. (2011). Of Private, Common, and Public Property and the Rationale for Total Privatization, Libertarian Papers, 3(1), 1-13. Retrieved from http://libertarianpapers.org/2011/1-hoppe-private-common-and-public-property/

Kinsella, S. (1992). Estoppel: A New Justification for Individual Rights. Reason Papers, 17, 61-74.

Kinsella, S. (1996 Spring). Punishment and Proportionality: The Estoppel Approach. The Journal of Libertarian Studies, 12(1), 51-74.

Kinsella, S. (1997). A Libertarian Theory of Punishment and Rights. Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, 607-645. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/llr/vol30/iss2/4

Kinsella, S.N. (2003 Spring). A libertarian theory of contract: title transfer, binding promises, and inalienability Journal of Libertarian Studies, 17(2), 11–37. Retrieved from http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/17_2/17_2_2.pdf

Kinsella, S.N. (2006 Sep 07). How we come to own ourselves. Retrieved from http://www.mises.org/story/2291

Kinsella, S.N. (2009A Aug 21). What Libertarianism Is. Retrieved from https://mises.org/library/what-libertarianism

Kinsella, S.N. (2009B). What Libertarianism Is. in Hülsmann, J.G. & Kinsella, S. eds., Property, Freedom, and Society: Essays in Honor of Hans-Hermann Hoppe. Auburn AL: Mises Institute

Kinsella, S.N. (2009C May 22). Homesteading, Abandonment, and Unowned Land in the Civil Law. Retrieved from http://blog.mises.org/10004/homesteading-abandonment-and-unowned-land-in-the-civil-law/

Lipson, M., & Vallentyne, P. (1991 Oct). Libertarianism, Autonomy, and Children. Public Affairs Quarterly, 5(4), 333-352.

Lyons, D. (1970 Feb). The Correlativity of Rights and Duties. Noûs, 4(1), 45-55.

Locke, J. (1948). An Essay Concerning the True Origin, Extent, and End of Civil Government, in E. Barker, ed., Social Contract. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 17-19.

Long, R.T. (2010 Winter). Abortion, Abandonment and Positive Rights: The Limits of Compulsory Altruism. Social Philosophy and Policy, 10(1), 166-191.

Paul, E.F. (1987). Property Rights and Eminent Domain. Livingston, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers

Pufendorf, S. (1673). Natural law and the law of nations (De officio hominis et civis prout ipsi praescribuntur lege naturali). The Translation. New York: Oxford University Press (1927).

Ross, D. (2007, [1930]). The Right and the Good. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Rothbard, M.N. (1969 June 15). Confiscation and the Homestead Principle. The Libertarian Forum, 1(6). Retrieved from https://www.panarchy.org/rothbard/confiscation.html

Rothbard, M.N. (2006 [1973]). For a New Liberty. Auburn, Alabama: Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Rothbard, M.N. (1998 [1982]). The Ethics of Liberty. New York: New York University Press.

Rozeff, M.S. (2005 Sep 01). Original Appropriation and Its Critics. Retrieved from http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff18.html

Watner, C. (1982). The Proprietary Theory of Justice in the Libertarian Tradition. Journal of Libertarian Studies, 6(3-4), 289-316. https://mises.org/library/proprietary-theory-justice-libertarian-tradition

Wenar, L. (2005 July). The Nature of Rights. Philosophy & Public Affairs, 33(3), 223-252.

Whitehead, R., & Block, W.E. (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, 5(1), 229-254.

Wikipedia. (2018, May 23). Emancipation of minors. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_of_minors


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.