I’M not sure when ‘my word is my bond’ lost its value, and — oral or written, with or without witnesses — one’s word stopped meaning anything unless put down on stamped paper and registered with an oath commissioner. The logical argument must have been that, in case of a dispute between parties, state adjudication warranted an upfront levy; hence, the priced stamped paper came into being. To continue in this vein would also involve litigation, though not without further court fees.

Justice without law, whether natural or legislated, cannot be imagined. Our minds are trained to regard law and justice as prerequisites for citizens’ rights and guarantors of life, honour, and property. Foreign occupation, colonisation, and, of late, globalisation in the guise of interdependent peace gives rise to legislation or executive actions whose sole purpose is to oppress and exploit. Who would have thought that something as seemingly innocuous as stamp duty would have its antecedents in the 18th-century organised crime known as colonisation?

The first direct tax imposed on the American colonies by the British parliament was the 1765 Stamp Act. It was intended to help defray the costs of British troops stationed in the colonies. In........

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