Self-Defense

Self-defense is not an exception to Law. Self-defense is the immediate application of Law: it keeps a boundary safe while a violation of that boundary continues. An agent can use only the force that is necessary to stop a crossing of a boundary, when there is no consent. This applies while the crossing continues, or while it is immediately credible. The boundary can stand around the body, the property, or agreed terms. The force must go, through causation, at the agent who crosses the boundary. The force must stop when the violation stops. Self-defense is not punishment, not revenge, not deterrence, and not Justice. Self-defense stops harm in progress. It does not close moral debt, and it does not threaten harm for possible future acts. The defender makes no new crime when they refuse to submit. The aggressor is responsible for harm that resistance in proportion causes. To strike agents for the things that they can become is not self-defense. To act when no violation continues or is immediately credible is not self-defense. To punish a group in return is also not self-defense. Those actions are coercion or war. After the violation stops, Judgment and Justice follow: they find responsibility, repair material damage, and obey the sovereign choice of the victim, collection or release.