[According to Smith, the system of natural liberty leaves the sovereign
only three duties: the defence of the country, the administration of
justice, and the maintenance of certain public works.]
(¶4.9.53)
All systems either of preference or of restraint, ...being ... completely
taken away, the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes
itself of its own accord. Every man, as long as he does not violate the
laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own
way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those
of any other man, or order of men. The sovereign is completely discharged
from a duty, in the attempting to perform which he must always be exposed
to innumerable delusions, and for the proper performance of which no human
wisdom or knowledge could ever be sufficient; the duty of superintending
the industry of private people, and of directing it towards the employments
most suitable to the interest of the society. According to the system of
natural liberty, the sovereign has only three duties to attend to; three
duties of great importance, indeed, but plain and intelligible to common
understandings: first, the duty of protecting the society from the violence
and invasion of other independent societies; secondly, the duty of
protecting, as far as possible, every member of the society from the
injustice or oppression of every other member of it, or the duty of
establishing an exact administration of justice; and, thirdly, the duty of
erecting and maintaining certain public works and certain public
institutions, which it can never be for the interest of any individual, or
small number of individuals, to erect and maintain; because the profit
could never repay the expense to any individual or small number of
individuals, though it may frequently do much more than repay it to a great
society.
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"Smith, A. 1776, An Inquiry into The Nature and Causes of
the Wealth of Nations. Paragraph
numbers from the web extracts at
<http://studymore.org.uk/xsmith.htm>
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