In Discipline & Punish, Foucault establishes a historical distinction between the development of the juridico-political traditions of illegalities of property, and the illegalities of rights. Arising with the development of the bourgeoisie, the lower classes were more likely to be involved with the illegalities of property, while the bourgeoisie were able to skillfully manipulate the gaps in the illegalities of rights; gaps that “were foreseen by its silences, or opened up by de facto tolerance”. This division was even borne out in a specialization of legal circuits—-special legal institutions applied with transactions, accomodations, reduced fines, etc.

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