Monday, August 26, 2013

Restitution

In violent times
You shouldn't have to sell your soul
In black and white
They really, really ought to know
--Tears for Fears

In courts of law, people who have harmed others are sometimes ordered to pay 'restitution' to compensate victims for injury or loss. Restitution (to 'restore') is intended to make someone whole after their property (broadly construed) had been taken from them.

Properly applied, payment of restitution is consistent with property rights. What is unjustly taken from a person should be returned to that person.

However, for restitution to be just, the connection between a person's loss of property and someone else who has taken it must be specific and direct. For example, offspring of a parent who has taken someone else's property cannot be held liable for the parent's bad behavior.

Restitution is less likely to be just when it is lagged by significant periods of time. For example, children of a person who was robbed are unlikely to have legitimate claims for restitution to be paid by the grandchildren on the thief.

Doing otherwise creates a land grab mentality where people seek payouts from others who have done them no wrong.

1 comment:

dgeorge12358 said...

The person who sins shall die. A child shall not suffer for the iniquity of a parent, nor a parent suffer for the iniquity of a child; the righteousness of the righteous shall be his own, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be his own.
~Ezekiel 20:18

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
~Romans 6:23