Definitions HQ

Illegality (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠partly a matter of property law: when the commons vanished, the old tolerated pilferings of the poor were turned into crimes overnight.

Illegality (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not simply checked by penality but differentiated — some tolerated, others pressed, one group excluded, another made useful — given a general economy within the mechanisms of domination.

Illegality (n.) comes ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠in two kinds: the profitable kind practised with impunity by those who use the law, and the petty kind the penal system uses to build a standing army of criminals.

Illegality (n.) under ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the Ancien Régime was a condition of society's functioning: every stratum had its margin of tolerated lawbreaking, and the poor would riot to defend theirs.

Illegality (n.) of ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the people widened the breach the bourgeoisie needed: economic growth was due in part to broken regulations — tolerance became encouragement.

Illegality (n.) was ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠split along class lines by capitalism: theft — the illegality of property — was left to the poor and the ordinary courts, while the bourgeoisie reserved for itself the fruitful illegality of rights: fraud, tax evasion, the skilful use of gaps in its own laws.