French political libertarian and economist CLAUDE FREDERIC BASTIAT (1801-1850) was one of the most eloquent champions of the concept that property rights and individual freedoms flowed from natural law. Here, in this 1850 classic, a powerful refutation of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto, published two years earlier, Bastiat discusses: . what is law? . why socialism constitutes legal plunder . the proper function of the law . the law and morality . "the vicious circle of socialism" . the basis for stable government . and more."