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Ancap society - how does it work?

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NortonII Posted: Wed, Aug 27 2008 10:13 PM

Alright, suppose the United States became anarchocapitalist and all police, military, and courts were replaced by private companies.  How would the following work?:

 

-Joe is single man with no family and is registered to a private court.  He is murdered suddenly by an unkwown assilant.  Who will pay for the police investigation?  When a suspected criminal is caught, but then is found not guility, who will pay the court costs?

 

-Who will pay for the protection of children?

 

-If a fugitive is hiding, who's responsibility is it to catch him?

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In order:

1. Whomever wants to see Joe's killer come to justice.

2. Whomever prosecuted the suspect

3. Whomever wants to.

4. Whomever wants to catch him.

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I agree with Knight, but I do have a question: why did you not use the search function first, to see if these questions had been dealt with before? Because most of them have been.

-Jon

To darkness I condemn you...

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In my opinion, most circumstances would warrant arbitration courts, in which the concept of ostracism is the greatest threat. All done voluntarily. If a person is a thief, or a person known for deception, he could be tracked by companies who collect such data, much like how credit scores are handled now. This does seem to presuppose some form of identification system, but this could easily be done privately as any party could refuse or permit exchanges if terms are not agreeable.


I do worry though that private roads could be mishandled, a landlocked person is surrounded by a road controlled by a senile old man who will not let anyone pass under any circumstances. These situations do happen; If person A is blocked by person B from trading with person C, don't we have a problem? That is why I think public property should not be done away with completely. I am personally of the opinion that the existing public roads should be transferred to nonprofit agencies who would permit all persons to use them.

Don't say "People have an incentive to let all people on their roads to maximize profit", not everyone is looking for money, some do want to see their neighbor cut off. And there is the threat of road monopolies, those can occur, simillar to how the landline telecommunications market is, unlike cell phones, and sattelite which can cross property without problem.

So until we can teleport goods and people around directly to others' property, we are stuck with a monopolies, either public or private on transportation. Take your pick.

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ama gi replied on Thu, Aug 28 2008 3:28 AM

NortonII:

Alright, suppose the United States became anarchocapitalist and all police, military, and courts were replaced by private companies.

It would not be enough to transfer the existing infrastructure from public to private hands; a massive decentralization of power is in order.

-Joe is single man with no family and is registered to a private court.  He is murdered suddenly by an unkwown assilant.  Who will pay for the police investigation?

I'm guessing that Joe, if he has no family, would at least have friends, or neighbors who are uncomfortable with the concept of having a killer on the loose.  I'm sure they would be eager to help catch the criminal.

Alexis de Tocqueville noted that in early America, victims of crimes would band together for the purpose of protecting themselves and catching criminals.  He remarked with interest that they would put together their own organizations, even when they had the option of turning to existing institutions for help.

-If a fugitive is hiding, who's responsibility is it to catch him?

If the victims press charges, and the suspect is nowhere to be found, the court would offer a reward for the criminal's capture.  The criminal would eventually be arrested by, well, anybody.  Such a system would be better than having cops do all the heavy lifting.

"As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable."

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Niccolò replied on Thu, Aug 28 2008 6:31 PM

"Anarcho"-Capitalism works like this.

 

Congressmen decide to sell off all their supplies and contracts to private companies.

 

Private companies replace the government's coercion.

 

Sounds familiar to what conservatives want.

The Origins of Capitalism

And for more periodic bloggings by moi,

Leftlibertarian.org

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ok, so the guy gets killed. obviously someone will eventually find out he is dead and/or missing.  if his employer discovered he is absent from work, and neigbors friends discover him dead or landlord finds him dead in his house/apartment for example..it is likely that this small collection of concerened individuals over the murder of their co worker and friend would prompt them to seek out a private investigator, and private court.

do we get free cheezeburger in socielism?

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fezwhatley:

ok, so the guy gets killed. obviously someone will eventually find out he is dead and/or missing.  if his employer discovered he is absent from work, and neigbors friends discover him dead or landlord finds him dead in his house/apartment for example..it is likely that this small collection of concerened individuals over the murder of their co worker and friend would prompt them to seek out a private investigator, and private court.

Speculation, we need a guarentee. Although nothing is bound to happen in human events, the law must attempt to be consistent.

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Jon Irenicus:
why did you not use the search function first, to see if these questions had been dealt with before? Because most of them have been.

Because it's anarchy man.

 

If you find something evil that wobbles, push it. - Gary North

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Telpeurion:
Speculation, we need a guarentee. Although nothing is bound to happen in human events, the law must attempt to be consistent.

The only guarantee in life is that eventually you will die.

 

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Maxliberty replied on Fri, Aug 29 2008 10:06 AM

NortonII:

Alright, suppose the United States became anarchocapitalist and all police, military, and courts were replaced by private companies.  How would the following work?:

 

-Joe is single man with no family and is registered to a private court.  He is murdered suddenly by an unkwown assilant.  Who will pay for the police investigation?  When a suspected criminal is caught, but then is found not guility, who will pay the court costs?

 

-Who will pay for the protection of children?

 

-If a fugitive is hiding, who's responsibility is it to catch him?

Prior to Joe's death he has two options in a free society. 1. Handle his personal defense himself or 2. Hire a Private Defense Agency that would have the same basic functions that the courts and police now do under the state. There is also the possiblity that Joe could opt for some combination of 1 and 2 and handle some things himself and use private services for other things like investigating court arbitration.

So if Joe chooses option 1 and is murdered then there is no investigation, no effort to catch the criminal other than what may be attempted by family and friends. Option 2 the PDA conducts the investigation and then prosecutes and punishes the criminal.

NortonII:

Who will pay for the protection of children?

 

In the Liberty Colony this service is provided for by charitable contibution from the PDA's.

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NortonII:
-Who will pay for the protection of children?

Mmm, parents?

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MacFall replied on Mon, Sep 1 2008 10:08 PM

scineram:

NortonII:
-Who will pay for the protection of children?

Mmm, parents?

BUT WAT ABOUT TEH ORFANZ

Pro Christo et Libertate integre!

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t3h orfins will dye lol!

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There's no reason to believe that the PDAs/DROs wouldn't pay for these things themselves.  The crime likely occurred in the geographic area covered by some agency, and so in order to maintain reputation they take on pro bono work.  If there are successful organizations, they can pay for pro bono work out of the savings they've accumulated by being a profitable company.  Pro bono work generates good will, which enhances reputation, which attracts business, which leads to more profits.

 

Another approach here is to think of the incentive that wergeld creates.  In some semi-anarchic societies, the only possession that some impoverished folks had was a "justice claim".  It could be quite profitable for someone to pursue this for that deceased victim.

"Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break into pieces."—Étienne de la Boétie, Discourse of Voluntary Servitude
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Another possibility is a private insurance company, that sometimes will prefer to catch the guy before he kills again, and they will have to pay up. Or for advertisement, like it has been said.

They just have to experiment with the costs/benefits, like every entrepreneur.

The market won't solve all the problems, it can only solve them best. Yes, I know it has been repeated on this site again and again, but it's worth it.

liberty student:

Jon Irenicus:
why did you not use the search function first, to see if these questions had been dealt with before? Because most of them have been.

Because it's anarchy man.

That kind of sloppy thinking makes the orphans die.

Polish Ludwig von Mises Institute

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