Quote of the Day: Differentiating Law and Legislation

Law is emergent and undesigned.  Law isn’t created; it evolves.  Legislation is created and designed.  Legislation is not law and law is not legislation.  The distinction between legislation and law is one that deserves far greater emphasis than it gets.

The modern state has gotten enormous amounts of unjustified and dangerous power by convincing large numbers of people of the truth of three false propositions – namely, that (1) only the state can supply sound money; (2) only the state can supply and enforce law; and (3) rules promulgated by the state are necessarily or by definition law.

(italics original) 

This is from Café Hayek blogger and Professor Donald J. Boudreaux relating law and the informal arrangement contrived by professional comedians to enforce property rights.