Where once, to be a criminal, an individual had to do an act (or attempt to do an act) with willful intent to violate the law or with knowledge of the wrongful nature of his conduct, today it is possible to be found criminally liable and imprisoned for a substantial term of years for the failure to do an act required by law, without any actual knowledge of the law's obligations and with no wrongful intent whatsoever.We think of ourselves as being very free nowadays, but far more actions are illegal now than in 1850, and the police are stronger too. In fact, this understates the reduction in liberty, because many actions are not criminally illegal but will cause government regulators or private parties to fine you or sue you for civil damages. This is perhaps not as bad as it sounds-- reductions in liberty have their positive side, in that other people are constrained from harming me too-- but it is a reduction in liberty nonetheless.
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