THE COMMON ECONOMIC PROTOCOLS

1.0 INTRODUCTION
This document contains the Common Economic Protocols, followed by a statement of
their philosophical and theoretical background. Appended to this document are maxims
of law.
The Common Economic Protocols are designed to facilitate justice in non
-
jurisdictional
“locales,” such as in cyberspace.
2.0 THE COMMON ECONOMIC PROTOCOLS
1. Individuals should keep their agreements.
2. Individuals should not aggress against, encroach upon, or
defraud others.
3. Violence is a very costly means of solving disputes (both short
-
term and long
-
term),
and is to be avoided.
4. Free, open, and functional markets are to be preserved. [1]
5. Peace is to be preserved.
6. Progress must not be hindered.
7. Private property is to be respected and protected. [2]
8. All the effects of an action must be taken into account.
9. Self
-
induced harms are the sole responsibility of the individual in question.
10. Voluntary transaction must be preserved. The exceptions to this principle are:
1. Necessities: Situations (usually emergencies), where there is no functional
voluntary market.
2. Mistakes: Where the voluntary market is accidentally transgressed with no
insult to the market intended.
11. Judgments are assessed for two reasons:
1. To recompense the injured party.
2. To keep secure the survival and primacy of voluntary transactions and the free,
functional market. [3]
12. The purpose of law is to facilitate beneficial interaction, and to minimize conflict.
The primary principles of which are:
1. Individual liberty (self
-
ownership).
2. Private property.
3. Free contract.
13. Freedom of trade, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and freedom of action are
but modifications of one great fundamental principle; all must be maintained, or all are at
risk.
14. Precedents are not valid as axioms. Legal precedents are valid only insofar as they
uncover or express principles of law.
15. Reason is the soul of law. Feelings and emotions are not esteemed above reason
.
16. Law deals with individuals only. Law recognizes no group entities, collective guilt, or
collective responsibility.
17. The standard for the application of legal principles is the reasonable man. The
reasonable man is not a perfect man, but a man of
normal ability who is acting reasonably
and responsibly.
18. No man’s standing in the eyes of the law is superior to any others. The law is no
respecter of persons.
19. The law does not require omniscience of anyone.
20. Restitution is preferred above
punishment.
21. No man, or group of men, has a right to dispose of another man’s life or property
without consent.
22. Plain language is preferred over esoteric language, provided that plain language is
capable of clarity and accuracy.
23. The default language of the Common Economic Protocols is English.
24. Individuals should be accorded privacy in all areas of life, including their economic
affairs. However, privacy may not be used as a tool to facilitate force, fraud or similar
offenses.
25. Every m
an is the sole owner of his own life, and should be left alone to pursue his
own happiness, or dispose of it, in whatever manner he chooses, provided that he does
not encroach upon other people or their property. (Exceptions are made for infants,
persons o
f diminished capacities, and similar cases.)
26. Markets are to be left alone to solve their own problems. There should be no coercive
intervention in market processes.
27. What is hateful to you, do not do to any man.
28. There are no victimless crimes
.
Footnotes.
[1] The reasons for this are:
1. Markets are the great interaction centers of mankind. Values are exchanged,
merits discovered, and mutually beneficial, survival
-
improving relationships
fostered.
2. Free and open markets are perhaps the most
impartial institutions on earth.
3. Free markets make survival (beyond bare subsistence) possible on earth. The
free and unhindered transfer of goods and services between people is critical for
the cooperation of humans in their mutual goals of survival,
happiness, and
growth.
4. Market
-
based competition is more effective in compelling, testing and refining
inventions and strategies for human advancement than any other mechanism
known.
[2] The reasons for this are:
1. Private and exclusive ownership is
necessary for, and supportive of, individual
human effort. Human energy and intelligence are the forces which create the
means of survival and progress on earth. Raw materials exist without human
energy, but are of little value without it. Long experience
has shown that self
-
interest is as close to a biological imperative as anything that we know of; and
that non
-
individual based methods of motivation (as in collectivism) simply do
not work. (Fear may at times work, but it is not self
-
sustaining, is unreliable, and
for many reasons it is properly considered immoral; that is, contrary to the broad
interests of survival and progress.)
2. Strong protection of private property is necessary as a hedge against envy, and
the plunder that rises from it. Where envy
holds sway, the accumulation of capital
is dangerous and uncommon. Without capital, a great number of important
activities cannot be undertaken. Historically, the inability to raise capital has
made economic progress extremely difficult or impossible as a
practical matter.
3. Private and exclusive property ownership is necessary for the certainty of
goods and supplies. This is especially critical as it concerns long
-
range business
planning. (Long
-
range planning being necessary for a huge number of beneficial
commercial activities.) If there is no certainty of goods, lands, or other properties,
long
-
range operations are most uncertain, and would seldom be undertaken, as is
the case in primitive societies.
4. Private property, certified by secure title, is
of critical importance in the
securing, application, and use of credit.
[3] The term "functional market" is used in several places in the protocols, and is
deserving of explanation. A "functional" market is a market with sufficient competition
and liquidity to operate well. Without sufficient choice, a market is not functional.
2.1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The title Common Economic Protocols is borrowed from The Diamond Age, by Neal
Stephenson.
Some of the definitions below are borrowed from previous works by Spencer Heath,
Andrew J. Galambos and Richard J. Maybury. The maxims were adapted from Bouvier’s
1856 Law Dictionary.
This document is copyright © 2005 by Andre Goldman. Version 1.1, April 1, 2005.
Permission is given to reprint the latest version of this document, unedited.
The Common Economic Protocols themselves (section 2.0) are hereby declared to be in
the public domain.
2. 2 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
Except if noted otherwise, the male gender used in this document refers to the universal
man
: humans, both male and female.
Some of the protocols are redundant. This was deemed necessary to express some points
as clearly as possible, and to address current biases. For example, number 26 is clearly
implied by number 4. Nonetheless, the dominant modern impulse is t
o induce some
power or authority to fix a market problem, rather than leaving the market to heal itself.
While the goal of such an action may be benevolent, the result is to bring force into the
market; thus, while hoping to solve one problem, a much large
r one is initiated.
3.0 PREMISES
The Common Economic Protocols hold the following to be sound premises:
1. Humans are, at their essence, individuals, not corporate entities.
2. Reality is firm and knowable. (Though much remains undiscovered and
incompletely described.)
3. The scientific method is man’s most reliable tool for determining truth,
understanding the universe, surviving, and prospering.
4. Human progress springs from the ability, energy and creativity of individuals,
and from synergistic relationships.
3.1 DEFINITIONS
Property:
Anything that can be the subject matter of contract.
Coercion:
The intentional interference with the property of another.
Crime:
The successful interference with the property of another. Successful coercion.
Justice:
The elimination or absence of coercion.
Freedom:
A condition where an individual's will regarding his own property is
unopposed by any other's will.
3.2 LAW AND JURISDICTION
Law is the science of determining what is just. All of the principles and processes of law
serve to determining what is just; the purpose of which is to facilitate beneficial
interaction between men.
Through history, law has seldom existed in a pure form. In most cases, the right to
administer the law has been claimed by a local rul
er. This added a layer of complexity to
law, which has been accommodated by the use of jurisdiction. Jurisdiction defines the
ruling person or group that administers the law and is generally a function of territorial
dominion.
The administration of cross
-
jurisdictional disputes has always been complex and
expensive. Nationalism, disagreements and competitive jealousies have sometimes made
them dangerous. However, in a world of states and rulers, jurisdiction seems nearly
unavoidable.
In cyberspace, however, jurisdiction has no natural base. First of all, the physical location
of an individual using the Internet can easily be masked, as can their identity.
Furthermore, users of cyberspace (and humanity in general) are increasingly moving
from one physical location to another, as well as owning, controlling and interacting with
businesses in multiple jurisdiction. In this jumble, even determining which jurisdiction or
jurisdictions have the “right” to control justice proceedings is problematic.
And not only
is determining jurisdiction in cyberspace especially difficult, dealing with
multiple jurisdictions in actual legal proceedings is prohibitively expensive, especially at
the lower end of the scale. Small and mid
-
sized transactions are effectively
unenforceable, since the costs of pursuing a claim in multiple jurisdictions would be
worse than a total loss.
The increasing difficulties with jurisdiction, especially in cyberspace, have led to the
development of these Common Economic Protocols, which were produced to create a
basis for non
-
jurisdictional law.
3.3 LAW IN NON
-
JURISDICTIONAL SPACES
Law in the absence of both jurisdiction and centralized enforcement has existed at
numerous times. The old common law of England existed relatively free of jurisdiction
,
as did the Lex Mercatoria of late middle ages commerce. Jewish law, especially as
recorded in The Responsa, was the foundation of successful Jewish self
-
rule for roughly
15 centuries.
Law in the absence of jurisdiction and centralized enforcement has worked quite well,
depending upon ostracism, reputation, and outlawry as its primary enforcement
mechanisms. Establishing the rule of law in the absence of central enforcement is
particularly important regarding commerce in cyberspace, where no direct force
is
possible.
3.4 APPLICATION OF THE PROTOCOLS
The protocols are intended to form a reference point for commercial activity. Entities
may specify the Common Economic Protocols as the governing law for their transactions.
These protocols are designed for w
ide use in voluntary human interactions. They assume
no jurisdictional monopolies on the administration of law.
The Protocols have been purposely kept free of references to specific legal procedures.
As soon as practicable, a professional organization will be formed to certify non
-
jurisdictional justice providers and to oversee the publication of case law.