ABSTRACT
Some crimes are committed against the person, others against property. The former must be unerringly punished with corporal punishment: neither the grand nor rich should be able to put a price on their assaults against the weak or impoverished; otherwise the riches that, under the eye of the law are the reward of the industry, will feed tyranny. There is no liberty when the laws at any time permit a situation where a man who should be treated as a person then becomes a thing. Then one will see how the energy of the powerful extracts out of the many combinations of social relationships the ones that, under the law, are in their favor. This discovery is the magical secret that turns citizens into beasts of burden; it is the chain in the hand of the strong which binds the actions of the unwary and the weak.
