Rejoinder to Thommesen on “Stealing” from Thieves

Is it possible to “steal” from a thief? Rothbard (1969) and Block (2018a, 2018b) maintain this to be an utter impossibility. In their view, one can only “liberate” the ill-gotten gains of the robber. In contrast, one can indeed steal, but only from the rightful owner of the property in question. Thommesen (2020) defends the opposite point of view; that one can indeed steal from a thief. He uses this perspective in criticism of Rothbard and Block. The present paper is an attempt to refute Thommesen’s critique of these two other authors.