If social life is to be acceptably harmonious and commodities efficiently produced and exchanged, the administration of justice, the protection of individual rights, the assignment of public offices, and the running of elections cannot be privatized, and the trade in them must be banned. Rights must apply universally, their enforcement unrelated to personal wealth. If these commodities are subject to commerce, the consequences are nefarious.

XREF: Connects to debates about privatization of courts, policing, and voting systems in contemporary governance literature. DEFINE: Clarifies the boundary between commodities and institutions that must remain public goods.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 27