Nozick, Robert

"Acquisition of unowned things is just under favorable conditions of fairness."

"Coercive mechanisms violate the principle that people own themselves."

"Justice cannot ignore the process by which holdings came to be."

"A just state respects the rights of individuals to their own holdings and labor."

"The entitlement conception sees distribution as process-dependent, not pattern-dependent."

"Moral constraints prevent using some for the benefit of others."

"A person cannot justly be compelled to benefit others against their will."

"Historical injustice can alter what would otherwise be justly held."

"The minimal state emerges from justice without violating anyone's rights."

"Distributive justice requires looking at how people came to have what they have."

"Taxation for welfare purposes treats people as means to others' ends."

"Just holdings cannot be redistributed without violating the rights of their owners."

"A person has the right to do what they wish with what is theirs."

"The principle of transfer allows just holdings to pass to others through exchange."

"Rectification addresses past unjust acquisition or violation of transfer rights."

"Rights place limits on permissible social goals and aggregative benefits."

"The state must respect that individuals have their own purposes and projects."

"Justice does not require equal distribution but fair initial conditions and free exchange."

"A minimal state is justified as necessary to protect the rights of individuals."

"You cannot override individual rights for collective benefit or social welfare."

"The justice of holdings turns on the justice of their acquisition and transfer."

"Persons cannot be tools in the hands of others for achieving their own ends."

"A distribution is just if it arose from a just prior distribution and just moves."

"Rights function as side constraints, not as goals to maximize."

"Coercion for redistributive purposes violates the self-ownership principle."

"The state exists to protect rights, not to enforce patterns of distribution."

"Justice requires respect for how people acquire and transfer their holdings."

"Individual rights cannot be overridden by claims of social benefit."

"A fair initial distribution does not justify ongoing coercive redistribution."

"Justice in holdings is backward-looking, concerned with process and history."