Chapter 55

Law

Law and laws: natural, divine and human law; legislation, obedience and legal institutions.

998 passages · 332 principal · Covers the 49 volumes of primary texts

Law is among the most comprehensive of the ideas treated in these books. It names the order by which the stars move and the order by which a parish must pursue a thief. It covers the commandment given at Sinai and the statute fixing the price of bread. The Harvard Classics speak of law in all these senses: eternal, natural, moral, divine and human. They are often uncertain whether these senses share anything beyond the word. The poets set divine ordinance against royal decree. The Stoics see one reason binding gods and men. Hobbes and Kant build systems on the notion of a law of nature. Scripture debates whether law saves. Political writers ask how statutes arise, why they bind, and when they fail. Novelists, economists and reformers record the courts, lawyers and proclamations through which law actually reaches people. Law is a great idea here because nearly every other question of human order, whether justice, liberty, sin or the state, passes through it.

The oldest voices in the collection treat law as something prior to any human lawgiver. In Aeschylus the Furies claim their office as a fixed ordinance of Fate that even the gods cannot annul¹. Zeus’s law demands that the doer suffer². Euripides praises “the Law that abides and changes not,” eternal and born of nature, against which striving is vain³. Sophocles’ chorus invokes laws born of heaven that forgetfulness never overwhelms⁴. The Stoics turn this reverence into a doctrine. Cleanthes calls men to wise obedience to God’s universal Law⁵. Epictetus says it is God’s edicts, not those of the jurists, that a man must interpret and obey⁶. Marcus Aurelius reasons that a common reason entails a common law, so that all rational beings are fellow citizens of one city^7,8,9. On this view whoever grieves or rages at what the ruler of all appoints is a runaway from the law¹⁰. Augustine carries the idea into Christian terms. Theft is punished both by God’s Law and by a law written in the heart¹¹. God’s eternal law never permits what custom excuses¹², and that law is one and unchanging even when its precepts vary with the times¹³.

The moderns divide this inheritance. Emerson keeps the moral half and makes it impersonal. The moral law executes itself and works without means¹⁴. It is as reliable as gravity¹⁵. Through compensation it even writes the laws of cities, so that cruel governments and bloody codes defeat themselves¹⁶. The physical half becomes the laws of science. Helmholtz speaks of natural phenomena conforming to simply statable laws that permit prediction¹⁷. Berkeley calls such laws the rules by which God presents things to our view¹⁸. Hume holds them established by unalterable experience, so that a miracle would violate them¹⁹. Tennyson’s poem keeps the question open: is God law, or is law God²⁰?

Between cosmic law and civil statute stands the law of nature as a measure for peoples. Winthrop distinguishes moral laws grounded in God’s Word and in nature from positive statutes that need set penalties²¹. He holds that law is natural to man while penalty is accidental²². The Declaration of Independence appeals to “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God”²³. Rousseau, by contrast, finds that natural law survived among men only as the law of nations governing relations between societies²⁴. Pascal is more severe. Natural laws are claimed to be universal, but human caprice has left none standing, and reason, once corrupted, has burdened us with laws as it once did with vices²⁵.

Hobbes reconstructs natural law on a new footing. Where there is no common power there is no law, and where there is no law there is no injustice. Reason only suggests articles of peace, which he calls Laws of Nature²⁶. Such a law is a rule found by reason forbidding what is destructive of one’s life. Hobbes sharply separates it from right, which is liberty²⁷. From the first law, to seek peace, he derives the laying down of right²⁸ and the performance of covenants²⁹, which is justice itself³⁰. Gratitude, pardon, the acknowledgment of equality and submission to arbitrators follow^31,32,33,34. All of them are summed in the golden rule³⁵. These laws bind in conscience always but in action only where others are secure³⁶. They are properly called laws only as the word of God, who commands by right³⁷. Covenants of mutual trust are therefore void in the state of nature and bind only where a coercive power exists³⁸. No covenant can surrender the right to resist force against one’s life³⁹.

Kant rejects any law drawn from human nature or experience. The moral law must hold with absolute necessity for all rational beings^40,41, and must be objective and a priori⁴². Everything in nature works according to laws, but only a rational being acts according to the conception of law⁴³. Moral goodness consists in letting that conception determine the will. Hence the imperative to act only on a maxim one could will as universal law⁴⁴. Hobbes’s law of nature was a counsel of self-preservation completed by a sovereign. Kant’s law is self-given yet universal^45,46, and it constitutes a kingdom of ends distinct from the kingdom of nature⁴⁷. Here the ancient Stoic city of reason returns, but grounded in autonomy rather than in cosmic order.

If there is a higher law, may it override a ruler’s command? Sophocles stages the question permanently. Creon’s edict forbids the burial of Polynices⁴⁸. Ismene counsels obedience⁴⁹. Antigone answers that the unwritten and eternal laws of the gods outweigh a mortal’s decree⁵⁰. Creon holds that whoever breaks the laws deserves no praise⁵¹, but by the end he wavers toward the ancient laws⁵². The Christian authors repeat Antigone’s claim in their own terms. More’s Utopia denies that man’s laws can license killing that God forbids⁵³. At his trial More argued that Parliament could not make law contrary to God’s law by making the King head of the Church⁵⁴. He added that a realm can no more override the general law of the Church than London can override Parliament⁵⁵. Luther turns the same principle against the Church itself. Papal law has no authority against God’s command⁵⁶. Canon laws are money-snares sold for gain⁵⁷, and the whole should be abolished because Scripture suffices⁵⁸.

Emerson and Thoreau carry the appeal inward, from God’s command to the self. For the self-reliant man no law is sacred but that of his own nature⁵⁹. He must be law to himself⁶⁰. The just man shows human legislation to be pitiful⁶¹. Thoreau calls the search for a law to obey servile⁶². Cellini offers the darker version: the Pope declares unique artists above the law⁶³. Pascal notes that those who renounce God’s laws invent stricter ones for themselves⁶⁴.

Scripture treats law as revelation and as a test. The Psalms delight in it. The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul⁶⁵, sweeter than honey and a lamp to the feet⁶⁶, and it brings a walking at liberty⁶⁷. The Koran likewise sets out God’s bounds on inheritance, food and marriage, with gardens for the obedient and fire for transgressors^68,69. It condemns those who do not judge by what God revealed⁷⁰. Paul, however, contrasts the letter engraved on stone, which ministers death, with the spirit that gives life⁷¹. Acts records that justification comes through Christ and not the law of Moses⁷², and it records the council’s decision to lay on Gentiles only a few necessary abstentions^73,74. Luther develops the point: the precepts show what we ought to do but give no power to do it⁷⁵, so the believer is free from the law⁷⁶. Bunyan’s Law revives the very sin it forbids⁷⁷, and his Moses knows no mercy⁷⁸. Milton’s angel calls law a discipline leading to a covenant of grace⁷⁹. Pascal sums it up: law imposed what it did not give, while grace gives what it imposes⁸⁰. Yet Pascal also praises the Mosaic law as the oldest and most perfect, borrowed by Greek and Roman legislators⁸¹. In Luke, Jesus asks whether it is lawful on the sabbath to save life⁸². That question sets mercy against rule in a way that recurs later in the equity of judges.

Human law raises the questions of origin and authority. Some authors credit the single founder. Descartes judges that laws designed by one wise legislator surpass laws that evolved piecemeal, as Sparta’s did⁸³. Bacon calls lawgivers second founders⁸⁴, and his Solamona legislates for a whole society⁸⁵. Voltaire admires Penn’s unchanged laws⁸⁶. Machiavelli grounds states on good laws and good arms, adding that laws follow from arms⁸⁷. Others ground law in consent. Winthrop holds that implicit consent binds outward obedience but cannot make an unjust law just⁸⁸. Emerson calls law a mere memorandum of agreement, with force only as living character supplies it⁸⁹. Burke, opposing the revolutionaries, roots law in prescription. Jurisprudence is the collected reason of ages⁹⁰, and prescription mellows violent beginnings into legality⁹¹. Goethe’s Mephistopheles mocks exactly this, calling inherited laws a hereditary disease⁹². Pascal’s position is the most unsettling. Laws are obeyed because they are laws, not because they are just⁹³. Their origin must be concealed lest they end⁹⁴, and the people must be told to obey them as laws⁹⁵. Burke answers in part that laws resting only on terror lack the affections and manners that support them⁹⁶.

Obedience receives its classic defense in the Crito. The personified Laws argue that no state can survive if individuals set aside its judgments⁹⁷. Disobedience wrongs one’s parents, educators and covenants⁹⁸, all freely accepted over seventy years⁹⁹. Descartes and Montaigne adopt the maxim of obeying the laws of one’s country^100,101. Lincoln advises obeying unrepealed acts rather than gambling on their unconstitutionality¹⁰². Defoe, ironically, turns the same appeal to known laws into an argument for persecution¹⁰³. The modern counter-question concerns liberty. Milton holds that the art of law lies in discerning where restraint is needed and where persuasion suffices¹⁰⁴. Smith says law’s proper business is to support natural liberty, restrained only for public security¹⁰⁵. Mill attacks laws that penalize opinion¹⁰⁶ and laws that prohibit innocent things in order to reach what the public thinks wrong¹⁰⁷.

The fate of positive legislation runs through many of these books. Confucius warns that rule by law and punishment makes men avoid crime but lose their sense of shame¹⁰⁸. More’s Utopians keep few, plain laws¹⁰⁹. Luther calls the civil law a wilderness¹¹⁰. Winthrop insists laws be made known to all¹¹¹. Dante scorns Florence’s ever-renewed statutes¹¹². Manzoni gives the fullest portrait of law’s impotence. Governor after governor reissues near-identical edicts against bravoes^113,114. These proclamations are mere paper against the privileged¹¹⁵, and Renzo concludes that they never send an oppressor to the galleys¹¹⁶. Harrison records an Elizabethan law requiring flax-sowing that was contemptuously ignored¹¹⁷, and lawmakers who break their own laws¹¹⁸. Smith adds that statutes cannot override economic tendency. Law can never properly regulate wages¹¹⁹, and no law can push interest below the market rate¹²⁰. Revenue laws make a crime of what nature never meant to be criminal¹²¹. Sydney Smith, for his part, ridicules irrevocable laws as binding the living to the dead^122,123. Trajan had already refused to give new rules retrospective force¹²⁴.

Some authors go further and see law as the instrument of the powerful. More describes rich men’s devices becoming laws¹²⁵. Rousseau shows inequality made permanent and lawful through property¹²⁶. Smith notes that the law permits masters’ combinations but forbids workmen’s¹²⁷. Penn observes that the greatest injustice passes under the name of law¹²⁸. To Webster’s Ferdinand and Massinger’s Overreach, laws are cobwebs^129,130.

Courts and judges are where law meets cases. Athena’s founding of the Areopagus replaces vengeance with a lasting tribunal^131,132. The Furies fear that acquittal will overthrow the ancient laws¹³³. Socrates reminds his judges that they have sworn to judge by the laws, not by their own pleasure¹³⁴. Bacon defines the judge’s office as declaring law, not making it¹³⁵, but he would soften outdated penal laws in their execution¹³⁶. More defends injunctions as relief from the rigour of the law¹³⁷. Pliny prefers a testator’s evident intent to legal form¹³⁸. Winthrop leaves penalties to the judge case by case¹³⁹, while the Body of Liberties forbids touching life or goods except by express law¹⁴⁰. The satire of lawyers runs from Luke¹⁴¹ through Hamlet’s quiddits¹⁴² to Manzoni’s pliable doctor¹⁴³. Mill records Bentham’s exposure of English law’s vices^144,145. Marshall’s opinion shows a constitution acting as supreme law over the states^146,147.

The texts leave several questions unresolved. They do not settle whether law is fundamentally reason, as the Stoics and Kant hold, or command backed by power, as Hobbes and Pascal suggest. Nor do they settle whether conscience may set a higher law against the statute, or whether reverence for law is a useful fiction or a recognition of something real. From Antigone to the Fugitive Slave Act¹⁴⁸, these books show that the tension between law and justice remains open.

Passages cited (148)

Aeschylus, The Furies, Vol. 8, p. 136–137read · scan
Aeschylus, Agamemnon, Vol. 8, p. 69–70read · scan
Euripides, The Bacchae, Vol. 8, p. 410–411read · scan
Sophocles, Oedipus the King, Vol. 8, p. 228–235read · scan
Cleanthes, The Hymn of Cleanthes, Vol. 2, p. 186–187read · scan
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of Epictetus, Vol. 2, p. 169read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Vol. 2, p. 213read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Vol. 2, p. 244read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Vol. 2, p. 204read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Vol. 2, p. 280read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. Augustine, Vol. 7, p. 26read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. Augustine, Vol. 7, p. 70read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. Augustine, Vol. 7, p. 39read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Worship, Vol. 5, p. 280–281read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, New England Reformers, Vol. 5, p. 269–270read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Compensation, Vol. 5, p. 88–89read · scan
Hermann von Helmholtz, On the Conservation of Force, Vol. 30, p. 173read · scan
George Berkeley, Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous, Vol. 37, p. 251–252read · scan
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Vol. 37, p. 379read · scan
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poems, Vol. 42, p. 1003–1005read · scan
John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That Aspersion, Vol. 43, p. 104read · scan
John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That Aspersion, Vol. 43, p. 96read · scan
The Declaration of Independence, Vol. 43, p. 150–151read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among Mankind, Vol. 34, p. 212read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Thoughts, Vol. 48, p. 104read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, Vol. 34, p. 390–391read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, Vol. 34, p. 391–392read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, Vol. 34, p. 392–393read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, Vol. 34, p. 401read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, Vol. 34, p. 404read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, Vol. 34, p. 406–407read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, Vol. 34, p. 407–408read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, Vol. 34, p. 408–409read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, Vol. 34, p. 409–410read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, Vol. 34, p. 410–411read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, Vol. 34, p. 411–412read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, Vol. 34, p. 412–413read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, Vol. 34, p. 397read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, Vol. 34, p. 399read · scan
Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Vol. 32, p. 320read · scan
Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Vol. 32, p. 300–301read · scan
Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Vol. 32, p. 336read · scan
Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Vol. 32, p. 323–324read · scan
Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Vol. 32, p. 312–313read · scan
Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Vol. 32, p. 343read · scan
Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Vol. 32, p. 350–351read · scan
Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Vol. 32, p. 348read · scan
Sophocles, Antigone, Vol. 8, p. 255read · scan
Sophocles, Antigone, Vol. 8, p. 255read · scan
Sophocles, Antigone, Vol. 8, p. 267read · scan
Sophocles, Antigone, Vol. 8, p. 275–276read · scan
Sophocles, Antigone, Vol. 8, p. 287–292read · scan
Sir Thomas More, Utopia, Vol. 36, p. 142read · scan
William Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas More, Vol. 36, p. 125read · scan
William Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas More, Vol. 36, p. 125read · scan
Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Vol. 36, p. 304–305read · scan
Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Vol. 36, p. 286read · scan
Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Vol. 36, p. 323read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance, Vol. 5, p. 62read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance, Vol. 5, p. 74–75read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, New England Reformers, Vol. 5, p. 268read · scan
Henry David Thoreau, Walking, Vol. 28, p. 420read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, Vol. 31, p. 145–146read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Thoughts, Vol. 48, p. 129read · scan
The Book of Psalms, Vol. 44, p. 160–164read · scan
The Book of Psalms, Vol. 44, p. 301–302read · scan
The Book of Psalms, Vol. 44, p. 296–297read · scan
Chapters from the Koran, Vol. 45, p. 968–969read · scan
Chapters from the Koran, Vol. 45, p. 994read · scan
Chapters from the Koran, Vol. 45, p. 998–999read · scan
Paul, The Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Vol. 45, p. 518–519read · scan
Luke, The Acts of the Apostles, Vol. 44, p. 451read · scan
Luke, The Acts of the Apostles, Vol. 44, p. 455–456read · scan
Luke, The Acts of the Apostles, Vol. 44, p. 456–457read · scan
Martin Luther, Concerning Christian Liberty, Vol. 36, p. 348–349read · scan
Martin Luther, Concerning Christian Liberty, Vol. 36, p. 350–351read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, Vol. 15, p. 33–34read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, Vol. 15, p. 74–75read · scan
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Vol. 4, p. 342read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Thoughts, Vol. 48, p. 169–170read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Thoughts, Vol. 48, p. 205read · scan
Luke, The Gospel According to Luke, Vol. 44, p. 368read · scan
René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the Sciences, Vol. 34, p. 12read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and Moral, Vol. 3, p. 127–129read · scan
Francis Bacon, The New Atlantis, Vol. 3, p. 159–160read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the English, Vol. 34, p. 75–76read · scan
Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, Vol. 36, p. 40read · scan
John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That Aspersion, Vol. 43, p. 97read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Politics, Vol. 5, p. 239read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Vol. 24, p. 231read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Vol. 24, p. 297–298read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part I, Vol. 19, p. 79–81read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Thoughts, Vol. 48, p. 104read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Thoughts, Vol. 48, p. 104–106read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Thoughts, Vol. 48, p. 113read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Vol. 24, p. 214read · scan
Plato, Crito, Vol. 2, p. 38–39read · scan
Plato, Crito, Vol. 2, p. 39–40read · scan
Plato, Crito, Vol. 2, p. 40–41read · scan
René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the Sciences, Vol. 34, p. 21read · scan
Michel de Montaigne, Of Friendship, Vol. 32, p. 85–86read · scan
Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, Vol. 43, p. 315–316read · scan
Daniel Defoe, The Shortest-Way with the Dissenters, Vol. 27, p. 134–135read · scan
John Milton, Areopagitica, Vol. 3, p. 206read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. 10, p. 251–252read · scan
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Vol. 25, p. 223read · scan
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, Vol. 25, p. 284read · scan
Confucius, The Sayings of Confucius, Vol. 44, p. 7read · scan
Sir Thomas More, Utopia, Vol. 36, p. 210read · scan
Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Vol. 36, p. 324read · scan
John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That Aspersion, Vol. 43, p. 105read · scan
Dante Alighieri, Purgatory, Vol. 20, p. 169read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed), Vol. 21, p. 11–12read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed), Vol. 21, p. 12–13read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed), Vol. 21, p. 16read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed), Vol. 21, p. 233read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan England, Vol. 35, p. 314–315read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan England, Vol. 35, p. 315read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. 10, p. 77read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. 10, p. 285–286read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. 10, p. 538read · scan
Sydney Smith, Fallacies of Anti-Reformers, Vol. 27, p. 228–229read · scan
Sydney Smith, Fallacies of Anti-Reformers, Vol. 27, p. 230read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of Pliny, Vol. 9, p. 413–414read · scan
Sir Thomas More, Utopia, Vol. 36, p. 236read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among Mankind, Vol. 34, p. 228read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. 10, p. 68read · scan
William Penn, More Fruits of Solitude, Vol. 1, p. 388read · scan
John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, Vol. 47, p. 759read · scan
Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts, Vol. 47, p. 884–885read · scan
Aeschylus, The Furies, Vol. 8, p. 149–150read · scan
Aeschylus, The Furies, Vol. 8, p. 151–152read · scan
Aeschylus, The Furies, Vol. 8, p. 142–144read · scan
Plato, The Apology of Socrates, Vol. 2, p. 22–24read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and Moral, Vol. 3, p. 129–130read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and Moral, Vol. 3, p. 131read · scan
William Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas More, Vol. 36, p. 103read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of Pliny, Vol. 9, p. 252–253read · scan
John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That Aspersion, Vol. 43, p. 92–93read · scan
Nathaniel Ward, The Body of Liberties, Vol. 43, p. 66–67read · scan
Luke, The Gospel According to Luke, Vol. 44, p. 386read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Vol. 46, p. 193–194read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed), Vol. 21, p. 45read · scan
John Stuart Mill, Autobiography, Vol. 25, p. 58read · scan
John Stuart Mill, Autobiography, Vol. 25, p. 75read · scan
John Marshall, Opinion of Chief Justice Marshall in the Case of McCulloch vs. the State of Maryland, Vol. 43, p. 212read · scan
John Marshall, Opinion of Chief Justice Marshall in the Case of McCulloch vs. the State of Maryland, Vol. 43, p. 223–224read · scan
Fugitive Slave Act, Vol. 43, p. 308read · scan

Introductory essay written by Claude Opus 5.5 from the outline and the notes on every passage below; quotations are checked against this edition.

1Eternal law, natural law and the laws of nature
2Hobbes's laws of nature and covenant
3Kant on moral law and autonomy
1. 3aThe universality and necessity of the moral law
2. 3bThe categorical imperative and universal legislation
4The conflict between divine law and human law
5Divine law, the Mosaic law and its fulfilment in grace
6The origin and authority of human law
7Obedience and the citizen's duty to law
8The making, wisdom and fate of positive legislation
9Courts, judges, lawyers and legal procedure

1.Eternal law, natural law and the laws of nature

1a.The universal law of God and reason

Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8

p. 69–70Zeus's law is fixed and stern, demanding vengeance on the doer.read · scan

Aeschylus, The Libation-BearersVol. 8

p. 116–117Divine law: thou shalt not serve the wrong; adulterers' death required by law.read · scan

Aeschylus, The FuriesVol. 8

p. 136–137Furies claim their office is a stern fixed law, an ordinance of Fate and God that even the gods cannot annul.read · scan

Sophocles, Oedipus the KingVol. 8

p. 228–235Chorus invokes laws born of heaven, which forgetfulness never overwhelms.read · scan

Euripides, The BacchaeVol. 8

p. 410–411The Law that abides and changes not, eternal and nature-born, is strong; striving beyond it is vain.read · scan
p. 415–417Laws that are not the Right trammel life, which breaks free to glorify God.read · scan

Cleanthes, The Hymn of CleanthesVol. 2

p. 186–187God's universal Law calls men to wise obedience; the wicked heedlessly work against it.read · scan

Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13

p. 80–85Pygmalion scorns divine and human laws.read · scan
p. 321Venus says if fates are averse, the Trojans should bear the pains of violated law.read · scan
p. 389Aeneas invokes human sanctions and divine laws by which the terms were agreed.read · scan

Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2

p. 126The good man submits to the administrator of the Universe as good citizens to the law of the State.read · scan
p. 169God's laws and edicts, not those of jurists Masurius and Cassius, are what a man should interpret and obey.read · scan

Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2

p. 195Same law for all in a well-ordered polity.read · scan
p. 204Rational animals' end is to follow reason and the law of the most ancient city.read · scan
p. 213Common reason commands what to do and not do; hence a common law.read · scan
p. 244One law and one common reason govern all intelligent animals.read · scan
p. 247Law rules all.read · scan
p. 280The law is master; the lawbreaker is a runaway, as is one who grieves, is angry or afraid at what the ruler of all appoints.read · scan
p. 282–283Misfortunes do not harm law, so they harm neither state nor citizen.read · scan

Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7

p. 26Theft is punished by God's Law and the law written in men's hearts, which iniquity cannot efface.read · scan
p. 37–38Inward righteousness follows the rightful law of God, which disposes different things to different times.read · scan
p. 70Deeds that human law would punish are excused by custom, but God's eternal law never permits them.read · scan

Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20

p. 146Cato says a law made when he left Limbo prevents Marcia from moving him.read · scan

Dante Alighieri, ParadiseVol. 20

p. 419An immutable law has established all in heaven, each fitting exactly as finger to ring.read · scan

Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34

p. 383–384In God's kingdom laws cover behaviour to him and to each other, so temporal and spiritual are not distinct.read · scan

John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That AspersionVol. 43

p. 99Determination of law belongs to God; law is unchanging and general, while penalties vary with circumstances and reach only transgressors.read · scan

John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4

p. 155The single prohibition on the Tree of Knowledge is the sign of obedience amid Adam's dominion over creatures.read · scan
p. 170Gabriel accuses Satan of breaking prescribed bounds.read · scan
p. 180Satan denies law can bind those who without law do not err; Abdiel calls God's decree justread · scan
p. 249A single divine command is laid on Adam as the test of his obedience.read · scan
p. 261Eve recalls the divine prohibition: they may not taste or touch this tree.read · scan
p. 261Eve says God's one command is the sole law given; otherwise reason is their law.read · scan

John Milton, Samson AgonistesVol. 4

p. 415God's universal law gives man authority over woman.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 229–230Legitimate power accords with eternal, immutable law in which will and reason are the same.read · scan
p. 232The eternal contract of society is a fixed law binding men's wills, sanctioned by an inviolable oath.read · scan

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19

p. 60–61Even hell has its laws: spirits must exit where they entered, which lets Faust hold the devil captive and propose a pact.read · scan

William Wordsworth, PoemsVol. 41

p. 649–651Duty as Lawgiver preserving even the stars and heavens from wrong.read · scan

George Long, The Philosophy of AntoninusVol. 2

p. 326Laws of Nature are often used without definite sense; deviation from the divine order is punished by justice.read · scan

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42

p. 1003–1005Debate whether God is law or law is God; thunder by law is still His voiceread · scan

John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28

p. 135A king's state rests on a foundation of eternal law that nothing can alter.read · scan

1b.The moral law as self-executing and inescapable

See also: The Sublime 5a · Punishment 1b · Religion 1b · Justice 10c

Friedrich von Schiller, Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of ManVol. 32

p. 278Moral law is misconceived as a statute with a positive origin rather than eternal.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, An Address Delivered before the Senior Class in Divinity CollegeVol. 5

p. 26Divine laws underlie the game of life yet elude statement, read in faces, actions and remorse.read · scan
p. 26–27Laws of the soul execute themselves, beyond time, space and circumstance.read · scan
p. 27–28Law is sovereign over all natures, assured by the sentiment of virtue.read · scan
p. 36The moral Law, joy of the earth, surer than astronomical orbits, is travestied and unspoken by the pulpit.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, CompensationVol. 5

p. 88–89The law of compensation writes the laws of cities; excessive taxes, cruel governments and bloody codes defeat themselves.read · scan
p. 92Even fables meant to escape the old laws certify that the law is fatal; nothing is given, all things are sold.read · scan
p. 93–94Proverbs teach the law of compensation, the law of laws: our acts align with the poles of the world regardless of will.read · scan
p. 96–97The law of give and take holds equally in ledgers, states and laws of nature.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, New England ReformersVol. 5

p. 269–270A high moral law works without exception, as reliable as gravity, over our heads and under our feet.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, WorshipVol. 5

p. 280–281Moral law executes itself and works without means; nature's reactions reward the good and penalize the bad.read · scan
p. 283Laws of gravity and chemistry extend into social and rational life; a perpetual reaction keeps judgment in human affairs.read · scan
p. 283–284Hindoo definition of Law; law is the basis of the human mind and appears as the moral sentiment.read · scan
p. 294Moral laws are alive, know if a man has kept them, and animate him with great duty.read · scan

Walter Bagehot, John MiltonVol. 28

p. 205Positive morality is contrasted with immutable spiritual laws and known ethics.read · scan

1c.Laws of nature in the physical sciences

George Berkeley, Three Dialogues Between Hylas and PhilonousVol. 37

p. 251–252Laws of nature are the rules by which God presents things to our view.read · scan

David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human UnderstandingVol. 37

p. 379Laws of nature are established by unalterable experience, so a miracle violates them.read · scan

Charles Darwin, The Origin of SpeciesVol. 11

p. 359Observers infer general laws governing the animal kingdom rather than local physical causes.read · scan

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42

p. 982–983Earth lapt in universal law upheld by common sense.read · scan

Hermann von Helmholtz, On the Conservation of ForceVol. 30

p. 173Natural phenomena conform to laws that can be stated simply, enabling prediction, as gravitation does in astronomy.read · scan
p. 174–175A new universal law, conservation of force, connects all natural phenomena.read · scan

Sir Archibald Geikie, Geographical EvolutionVol. 30

p. 338Finds fundamental law and order underlying apparent chaos of contorted rocks.read · scan

1d.The law of nature and the law of nations

Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13

p. 117Priam appeals to the laws of nature and of nations which Achilles honored.read · scan

Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36

p. 179–183Colonists live under Utopian laws; the law of nature is invoked to justify claiming unused ground.read · scan

William Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas MoreVol. 36

p. 103The King argues his marriage violates natural law and so cannot be dispensed by the Church, against positive and divine law.read · scan

Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14

p. 62–63Quixote states the laws of arms forbidding a squire to aid him against knights; Sancho cites divine and human law of self-defense.read · scan
p. 79Appeals to the law of nature obliging men to favour knights; corruption of judges by bribes.read · scan

Christopher Marlowe, Edward the SecondVol. 46

p. 50Spencer says beheading the prisoner was flatly against the law of arms.read · scan

John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That AspersionVol. 43

p. 96Laws can exist without penalties; law is natural to man while penalty is positive and accidental.read · scan
p. 104Distinguishes moral laws grounded in God's Word and nature from merely positive statute laws needing set penalties.read · scan

John Milton, Samson AgonistesVol. 4

p. 415Country seeking a life unjustly violates law of nature and of nations, so is not to be obeyed.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48

p. 104Natural laws claimed to be universal, but human caprice has left none; reason corrupted, we are burdened by laws as once by vices.read · scan

John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning EducationVol. 37

p. 157Study natural rights, foundations of society and duties, and the civil law of nations grounded on reason.read · scan

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among MankindVol. 34

p. 212Civil law became citizens' rule; natural law survived only as law of nations among societies.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 197Natural rights and the first law of nature are given up in civil society.read · scan

Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Noble LordVol. 24

p. 419–420The country of Grotius, cradle of the law of nations, is taught a new code by Paine and Condorcet.read · scan

Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26

p. 420–422Inalienable rights come from Heaven, indestructible as the stars; a law is proposed against yielding to Austria.read · scan

The Declaration of IndependenceVol. 43

p. 150–151The Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle a people to separate station; the king refused wholesome laws.read · scan

Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21

p. 73–74Podesta cites the law of nations and the inviolability of an ambassador in the dispute over the messenger.read · scan
p. 75–76The Podesta insists an ambassador's person is sacred.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5

p. 470–471England famous for immortal laws announcing original right.read · scan

Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29

p. 419–420Chiefs ask about international law on treatment of ships and foreigners; law is issued verbally on the spot.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Twenty-Four Years AfterVol. 23

p. 404–405Dana observes the ship's loss passing into international jurisprudence and debate as part of the 'Alabama Claims'.read · scan

Treaty with Spain (1819)Vol. 43

p. 273–274Claims are adjudicated under the law of nations and prior treaty, with payments as Congress prescribes by law.read · scan

Treaty with MexicoVol. 43

p. 294–295Treaty stipulations bind both governments on river works and taxation, requiring mutual consent and preserving each republic's territorial rights.read · scan
p. 305Treaty obligations are likened to the most acknowledged obligations under the law of nature or nations.read · scan

2.Hobbes's laws of nature and covenant

2a.Law, right and the need for a common power

Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34

p. 389–390No law can be known or made until men agree on a lawmaker.read · scan
p. 390–391Where no common power, no law; where no law, no injustice; reason suggests articles of peace called Laws of Nature.read · scan
p. 391–392Defines law of nature as a rule found by reason forbidding self-destructive acts; distinguishes right from law.read · scan

2b.The particular laws of nature

Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34

p. 392–393Second law of nature: lay down right to all things when others do, for peace and defence.read · scan
p. 401Third law of Nature: men must perform their covenants made; without it covenants are empty words.read · scan
p. 404Justice, keeping covenant, is a rule of reason forbidding what destroys life, and so a law of Nature.read · scan
p. 406Equity, proper distributive justice, is itself a law of Nature.read · scan
p. 406–407Fourth and fifth laws of Nature: gratitude for free gifts, and complaisance, accommodating oneself to others, both serving the fundamental law to seek peace.read · scan
p. 407–408Sixth to eighth laws of Nature: pardon the repentant, avoid purposeless revenge, and show no hatred or contempt.read · scan
p. 408–409Ninth and tenth laws of Nature: acknowledge natural equality and reserve no right one denies others.read · scan
p. 409–410Laws of Nature require equal dealing by judges, common enjoyment of indivisible things, safe conduct for peace-makers, submission to arbitrators.read · scan
p. 410–411Laws of Nature dictate peace and are summed in the golden rule, intelligible to all.read · scan
p. 411–412Laws of Nature bind in conscience always but in action only when others are secure; they are immutable and eternal.read · scan
p. 412–413Dictates of reason are properly laws only as the word of God who commands by right.read · scan

2c.Covenants, their validity and their binding force

Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor FaustusVol. 19

p. 221The compact is drawn as a legal deed with conditions and articles binding both parties.read · scan

Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34

p. 394Defines contract as mutual transfer of right, pact and covenant, and keeping or violation of faith.read · scan
p. 395Distinguishes contract from free gift and analyzes when promises transfer right.read · scan
p. 396Promise equals covenant when the promisor has already received benefit; contract is mutual translation of right.read · scan
p. 397Covenants of mutual trust are void in the state of nature but bind where a common coercive power exists to compel performance.read · scan
p. 398Vows contrary to natural law are void; where natural law commands, the law rather than the vow binds.read · scan
p. 399Covenants not to resist force, or to accuse oneself, are void because no one can lay down the right to preserve life.read · scan
p. 413–414Covenants made by representatives bind their authors within the commission given.read · scan
p. 414–415Covenants bind the author not the actor; breach of covenant is against the law of Nature.read · scan
p. 416–417Authors are simple or conditional, sureties who own another's covenant if he fails.read · scan

3.Kant on moral law and autonomy

3a.The universality and necessity of the moral law

See also: Will 1b · Duty 1a · Philosophy 5c

Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of MoralsVol. 32

p. 300–301Moral laws, like 'Thou shalt not lie,' hold for all rational beings and differ from empirical practical rules.read · scan
p. 301Moral law must be sought in its purity, apart from empirical motives.read · scan
p. 320The moral law must hold with absolute necessity for all rational creatures, so cannot be inferred from experience.read · scan
p. 323–324Everything in nature works by laws, but only rational beings act according to the conception of laws.read · scan
p. 324–325Objective laws of reason apply to every rational being; the human will stands imperfectly under them.read · scan
p. 326–327Only moral commands carry unconditional, universally valid necessity and count as laws.read · scan
p. 330–332Only the unconditional command has the necessity of a practical law; other principles are contingent on arbitrary purposes.read · scan
p. 336Moral law must be objective and a priori, not deduced from human nature; maxims differ from laws.read · scan
p. 354A law given by nature would be contingent and empirical, unfit as an apodictic practical rule.read · scan
p. 360–362Man is under laws of nature (heteronomy) as sensible, under laws of reason alone as intelligible.read · scan
p. 367–368An intelligible order of laws differs from the mechanism of nature; only universal form of maxims is authorised.read · scan

3b.The categorical imperative and universal legislation

See also: Will 5 · Duty 1a · Principle 3

Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of MoralsVol. 32

p. 311–312Only the law itself can be an object of respect and a command, not inclination.read · scan
p. 312–313Moral good consists in the conception of law itself determining the will; act only so that your maxim could become universal law.read · scan
p. 313The object of respect is the law we impose on ourselves yet recognise as necessary in itself.read · scan
p. 313Universalizability test: a maxim must hold as a universal law, or it destroys itself.read · scan
p. 332Maxims are tested by whether they can be universal laws without self-contradiction.read · scan
p. 334Universal law of nature serves as test of maxims; a maxim may be conceivable as such a law yet impossible to will.read · scan
p. 338Only an end in itself could be the source of a universal practical law.read · scan
p. 341Practical legislation lies in the universal form of the rule, like a law of nature.read · scan
p. 342Imperatives conceived as categorical exclude any interest as spring of action; universal legislation grounds them.read · scan
p. 343Laws to which man is subject are those he gives himself, though at once universal.read · scan
p. 344Morality is reference of all action to legislation making a kingdom of ends possible; maxims must be universal laws without contradiction.read · scan
p. 346Legislation assigns worth to everything, so it possesses unconditional dignity and commands respect.read · scan
p. 348Universal legislation by maxims; kingdom of ends contrasted with kingdom of nature governed by efficient-cause laws.read · scan
p. 350–351Moral law is self-given; the categorical imperative commands autonomy.read · scan

4.The conflict between divine law and human law

4a.Antigone and unwritten laws against the ruler's edict

Sophocles, AntigoneVol. 8

p. 255Creon's edict forbids burial of Polynices on pain of stoning; the decree sets the conflict.read · scan
p. 255Ismene urges obedience to the sovereign's edict; Antigone questions Creon's right to forbid her own kin's burial.read · scan
p. 260Chorus grants Creon power to make what laws he will; he demands enforcement against disobedience.read · scan
p. 267Antigone claims the unwritten, eternal laws of the gods outweigh mortal Creon's edicts.read · scan
p. 267Creon treats disobedience of his laws as outrage; Antigone holds death claims equal rites for all.read · scan
p. 275–276Creon holds that he who breaks the laws or bids rulers obey deserves no praise; obedience to the state's appointee.read · scan
p. 276Haemon accuses Creon of trampling laws the gods hold sacred.read · scan
p. 281–284Her burial rites against her country's will and the ruler's power set divine law against state edict.read · scan
p. 287–292Creon fears it may be safest to end his life keeping ancient laws, wavering between decree and divine custom.read · scan

4b.Statutes void against God's law

See also: Tyranny 7a · Family 2c · Liberty 3b · Religion 12b

Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7

p. 39Divine law is one and unchanging though its precepts vary with times; God's commands override human customs and rulers' commands.read · scan

Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36

p. 142Man's laws cannot license killing that God's commandment forbids.read · scan
p. 142Human law cannot override or define the reach of God's commandment; Mosaic law punished theft by fine.read · scan

Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German NationVol. 36

p. 267–268Canon law exempting clergy from secular power is denounced as a device for freedom to do evil.read · scan
p. 268–269Ecclesiastical law opposing secular authority is called Romanist arrogance and human invention.read · scan
p. 272Papal laws bind only so long as they do not injure Christianity and God's laws.read · scan
p. 277–278Rome does not even observe its own canon law, which is called tyranny, avarice and worldly pomp rather than law.read · scan
p. 279An imperial or national law should retain or abolish the annates.read · scan
p. 280Emperor Charles should issue a law forbidding livings to fall to Rome, matching the Pope's own lawmaking.read · scan
p. 283–284Rome evades the canon law against holding incompatible benefices by buying glosses such as Unio, Incorporatio and Administrate.read · scan
p. 286Canon laws are called money-snares; for money Rome legalises usury, theft, annulled vows and forbidden marriages.read · scan
p. 289Proposes imperial law and restoration of Nicene conciliar rules against papal cancellation of council decrees.read · scan
p. 290Rome disobeys its own canon law that leaves temporal matters to temporal jurisdiction.read · scan
p. 295Canon law contains impudent lies treated as doctrine.read · scan
p. 302The Roman see made a general law forbidding priests to marry, against Scripture.read · scan
p. 303Canon law contrary to God's ordinance is idle invention.read · scan
p. 303–304Canon law is arbitrary and not ordained by God or necessary for salvation.read · scan
p. 304–305Papal law has no authority against God's command; canon law is false and better burnt.read · scan
p. 305Papal laws are unjust and unholy and sold for money.read · scan
p. 307–308Canon law is called the product of the evil spirit.read · scan
p. 309Prohibited degrees of marriage and dispensations are canon-law snares sold for money; priests should dispense freely.read · scan
p. 319–320Canon laws of Rome are unbearable and unnecessary to Christian life.read · scan
p. 323Luther urges abolishing the canon law, since the Pope's whim has replaced it and Scripture suffices; existing laws are burdensome and unobeyed.read · scan

William Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas MoreVol. 36

p. 91–103Papal commission, dispensation and appeal to a general Council regarding the marriage's lawfulness.read · scan
p. 125More argues Parliament may legislate on temporal princes but cannot make law contrary to God, such as making the King head of the Church.read · scan
p. 125More argues the Act conflicts with the laws of God and the Church, so the indictment is invalid.read · scan
p. 125A realm cannot make a particular law overriding the Church's general law, just as London cannot override Parliament.read · scan

John Calvin, Dedication of the Institutes of the Christian ReligionVol. 39

p. 35The Church imposes canons, constitutions and fasting laws without authority from God's word.read · scan

Nathaniel Ward, The Body of LibertiesVol. 43

p. 74–75Sets limits of custom, town by-laws and duty to reveal offences, with divine word as the moral standard.read · scan

Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies A-BleedingVol. 47

p. 719Dion insists a king's command must be honest and possible and that the powers above are just.read · scan

John Milton, Samson AgonistesVol. 4

p. 415God who made laws to bind us may exempt whom he chooses from national obligation without sin.read · scan

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15

p. 96–97They are charged with holding dangerous opinions in contempt of the law of their Prince.read · scan

John Dryden, Preface to Fables, Ancient and ModernVol. 39

p. 163–164Conflict between king upholding the land's laws and the archbishop upholding the Church; self-defense justified in civil law.read · scan

John Woolman, The Journal of John WoolmanVol. 1

p. 281–282Enforcing laws inconsistent with pure wisdom brings dimness over the minds of a people who profess Christ's inward teaching.read · scan

4c.The self-reliant man as his own law

Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31

p. 145–146The Pope declares unique artists like Cellini stand above the law and grants a safe-conduct and pardon for homicide.read · scan
p. 177–178Cellini argues laws cannot bind him who is master of the law, as Cosimo is given limits he can cross.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48

p. 129Those who renounce God's laws make strict ones for themselves, like soldiers of Mahomet, robbers, logicians.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-RelianceVol. 5

p. 62No law is sacred to him but that of his own nature.read · scan
p. 74He obeys no law less than the eternal law.read · scan
p. 74–75The self-reliant man must be doctrine, society and law to himself.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, PoliticsVol. 5

p. 243Good men must not obey laws too well; a higher law overrides statutes on property.read · scan
p. 247The wise man needs no statute book since he is himself the law-giver.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, New England ReformersVol. 5

p. 258–259The just and heroic soul abrogates old law or school before the law of its own mind.read · scan
p. 268A just man shows human legislation to be pitiful and contrived; true virtue is abated by excessive reverence for laws.read · scan

Henry David Thoreau, WalkingVol. 28

p. 420Seeking a law to obey is servile; the man who lives is superior to laws through relation to the lawmaker.read · scan

5.Divine law, the Mosaic law and its fulfilment in grace

Paul, The First Epistle of Paul to the CorinthiansVol. 45

p. 501Paul appeals to the law of Moses about not muzzling the ox as scriptural warrant for the apostles' rights.read · scan

Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44

p. 358–359Circumcision, purification and presentation follow the law of Moses and the law of the Lord.read · scan
p. 397Not one tittle of the law shall fall; the law and prophets until John.read · scan
p. 401–402The commandments recited: no adultery, killing, stealing, false witness; honor parents.read · scan

Luke, The Acts of the ApostlesVol. 44

p. 472Paul was instructed in the strict manner of the law of the fathers.read · scan
p. 485–486Paul argues for Jesus from the law of Moses and the prophets, and claims he broke no custom of the fathers.read · scan

Chapters from the KoranVol. 45

p. 942–943Those charged with the law yet not bearing it are likened to an ass carrying books.read · scan
p. 956–957Food was lawful to Israel except what he forbade himself before the law was revealed.read · scan

Nathaniel Ward, The Body of LibertiesVol. 43

p. 79–81Capital laws drawn from divine law; legal conviction required.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48

p. 160Two laws suffice to rule the Christian Republic better than all statecraft.read · scan
p. 228–229Scripture says the law shall change and also abide forever; new covenant versus eternal covenant.read · scan
p. 253–254A law shall proceed from the Lord for a light of the Gentiles.read · scan

5a.Delight in and obedience to the law of God

The Book of JobVol. 44

p. 105–106Receive the law from God's mouth and lay up his words in the heart.read · scan

The Book of PsalmsVol. 44

p. 145–146The blessed meditate on the law of Jehovah day and night.read · scan
p. 160–164The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul, making wise the simple; more desirable than gold.read · scan
p. 186–188The law of God in the heart keeps the righteous from slipping.read · scan
p. 239–240God appointed a law and testimony in Israel; the people refused to walk in it and kept not the covenant.read · scan
p. 255Children who forsake God's law and statutes will be punished with the rod, though lovingkindness remains.read · scan
p. 262Blessed is the man taught out of God's law; unjust statutes condemn.read · scan
p. 275–277Land given that Israel might keep his statutes and laws.read · scan
p. 293–295Blessed are those who walk in Jehovah's law, keep his statutes and testimonies, and delight in them.read · scan
p. 296–297Prayer to be taught and to keep God's law and commandments; law brings walking at liberty.read · scan
p. 298–299Steadfast observance of God's statutes despite derision and the wicked; law is better than gold and silver.read · scan
p. 299–300God's commandments are faithful and delightful; his word is settled in heaven and all things obey his ordinances.read · scan
p. 301–302Love of God's law as sweet as honey and a lamp to the feet; commandments are a lasting heritage.read · scan
p. 302–303Love of God's commandments above gold; his testimonies are righteous, pure and truth.read · scan
p. 304–305Persistent love and observance of God's law and precepts, whose sum is truth and endures forever.read · scan
p. 305–307Closing prayer to be taught God's statutes and helped by his ordinances; the law is his delight.read · scan
p. 327–328God's statutes and ordinances shown to Israel and to no other nation.read · scan

Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7

p. 28–29He acted against God's law merely because it was forbidden.read · scan

Chapters from the KoranVol. 45

p. 967–968Divine ordinances regulate inheritance portions for men and women, kindred and the poor.read · scan
p. 968–969God's bounds and ordinances on inheritance; obedience brings gardens, transgression brings fire; adultery regulated by four witnesses.read · scan
p. 969–970Lawful and unlawful marriages and inheritance of women's estates set as God's book.read · scan
p. 974–975Disputes are settled by reference to divine revelation rather than to Taghut.read · scan
p. 989–990Divine ordinance makes lawful what was restricted and grants the prophet a special privilege above other believers.read · scan
p. 994Lists lawful and forbidden foods, rules of pilgrimage and hunting, fulfilment of compacts as divine ordinance.read · scan
p. 998–999Revealed law gives guidance; those who do not judge by what God revealed are misbelievers, unjust, evildoers.read · scan
p. 999–1000God made for each community a law and pathway; judgment is to follow what God revealed.read · scan

John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4

p. 342God ordains laws at Sinai, civil and religious, and Adam asks why so many laws given.read · scan

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15

p. 20The Lawgiver placed steps through the Slough, yet men step aside.read · scan

William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1

p. 339God's law made rebellion in children death.read · scan

5b.The law reveals sin but cannot save

See also: Theology 6a · Liberty 3a · Sin 9c

Paul, The Second Epistle of Paul to the CorinthiansVol. 45

p. 518–519Contrasts old covenant of the letter engraved on stone, ministering death and condemnation, with the new covenant of the spirit giving life.read · scan

Luke, The Acts of the ApostlesVol. 44

p. 435–438The law was received through angels' ordinance but not kept.read · scan
p. 451Justification comes through Christ, not the law of Moses.read · scan

Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7

p. 116–117Paul's contrast of the law of God, the law of the mind and the law of sin in the members.read · scan

Martin Luther, Concerning Christian LibertyVol. 36

p. 348–349Scripture's precepts show what we ought to do but give no power to do it, exposing our impotence.read · scan
p. 349–350Humbled by the precepts, man finds that God's promises fulfil what the law demands, through faith not works.read · scan
p. 350–351The believer needs no works or law for justification and is thus free from the law.read · scan
p. 353–354Faith fulfils all commandments since fulfilling the first makes the rest easy.read · scan
p. 358–359The law is the strength of sin; righteousness of faith needs neither laws nor works.read · scan
p. 365Repentance comes from the law of God, faith from his promises.read · scan
p. 369Mary submitted voluntarily to Mosaic purification law, not needing it, showing works done freely not for justification.read · scan

John Calvin, Dedication of the Institutes of the Christian ReligionVol. 39

p. 48–49The Moral Law was given to lead its observers to Christ; Old and New Testaments compared.read · scan

John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4

p. 342Law reveals sin but cannot remove it; it is imperfect, a discipline leading to a better covenant of grace.read · scan
p. 342He fulfils the law by obedience and love, and nails the law against man to the cross.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48

p. 168–169Boasting is excluded by the law of faith, not the law of works (Romans).read · scan
p. 169–170Law did not destroy nature but instructed it; the law imposed what it did not give, grace gives what it imposes.read · scan

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15

p. 27–28Justification comes not by the works of the Law; those under the law's works are cursed.read · scan
p. 33–34The Law, by discovering and forbidding sin, revives and increases it in the heart, giving no power to subdue it.read · scan
p. 43–44Christian says laws and ordinances do not save; custom would not stand trial before the Lord's rule.read · scan
p. 74–75Moses strikes down transgressors and knows no mercy, representing the law that spares none who break it.read · scan
p. 141–142By the works of the law no man is justified.read · scan

5c.Whether Gentiles must keep the law of Moses

Luke, The Acts of the ApostlesVol. 44

p. 454–455Dispute over whether Gentiles must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved goes to Jerusalem.read · scan
p. 455–456Peter calls the law a yoke none could bear; James proposes only minimal abstentions for Gentiles.read · scan
p. 456–457The council's letter lays on Gentiles only necessary things: abstain from idol offerings, blood, strangled meat, fornication.read · scan
p. 470Jewish believers zealous for the law suspect Paul; he is advised to purify himself and keep the law.read · scan

Izaak Walton, The Life of Mr. George HerbertVol. 15

p. 401–402Freedom from the legal sacrifices, circumcision and Jewish Sabbath observance of the Levitical law.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48

p. 223Peter and the Apostles set aside circumcision against the law, heeding the Holy Spirit's reception.read · scan
p. 223–224The end of the law is the Holy Spirit; since uncircumcised men had it, circumcision was unnecessary.read · scan

5d.Mercy and the sabbath law

Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44

p. 367–368Pharisees charge that plucking grain breaks the sabbath law; Jesus cites David eating the show-bread.read · scan
p. 368Jesus asks whether it is lawful on the sabbath to do good or harm, save life or destroy it.read · scan
p. 390–391Sabbath rule versus mercy: even oxen are loosed on the sabbath, so a woman may be healed.read · scan
p. 392–393Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath? Mercy overrides rule, like rescuing an ox from a well.read · scan

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15

p. 214Christ, made under the Law, must give away his spare righteousness since the Law demands charity as well as justice.read · scan

5e.The antiquity and perfection of the Jewish law

Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3

p. 275–276The Law of Moses lasted two thousand years unaltered, unlike other commonwealths' laws.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48

p. 204The Jews claim their law came from God's own hand.read · scan
p. 204–205The Jewish law is the first and most perfect; the greatest legislators, as in the Twelve Tables, borrowed from it.read · scan
p. 205Jewish law is oldest, most perfect and alone observed unbroken in a state; Greek and Roman lawgivers borrowed from it.read · scan
p. 206The strictest law, with painful observances on pain of death, has been kept for centuries by a rebellious people while other states changed laws.read · scan
p. 211–212Jews are bound to observe the Talmud by universal consent.read · scan

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, The Education of the Human RaceVol. 32

p. 189–190Moses's law, sanctioned only in this life, was adapted to the knowledge and yearnings of the Israelites.read · scan

Walter Bagehot, John MiltonVol. 28

p. 185Milton cites the Mosaic law of divorce as just and consenting with wise nations; objects to civil law interfering with husband's prerogative.read · scan

6.The origin and authority of human law

6a.The lawgiver and the founding of states

Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22

p. 117–118They have neither assemblies nor oracles of law; each utters the law for his household.read · scan

Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44

p. 67The ruler revised the laws and standardized measures.read · scan

Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33

p. 67–68Asychis's law allows loans on the security of a father's corpse, with the penalty of denied burial for default.read · scan
p. 87–88Amasis' law requiring citizens to declare an honest livelihood on pain of death, adopted by Solon in Athens.read · scan

Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13

p. 80Aeneas will impose sovereign laws, and righteous laws will restrain fraud and force.read · scan
p. 87Some Tyrians ordain laws.read · scan
p. 87Dido dispenses laws and determines private causes, dividing tasks equally or by lot.read · scan
p. 232Numa shall ordain new laws for peaceful Rome.read · scan
p. 270Saturn ordained laws and civil customs, bringing scattered savage men into towns.read · scan

The Destruction of Dá Derga's HostelVol. 49

p. 205–206The burning land signals that the king's law has broken down.read · scan
p. 208–209Plundering by marauders throughout Ireland during his reign violates his tabu and shows royal order failing.read · scan
p. 215–216Excellence of law and peace makes each man's voice seem melodious.read · scan

Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20

p. 167Athens and Sparta who enacted ancient laws are cited as famed for civil arts.read · scan

Amerigo Vespucci, Amerigo Vespucci's Account of His First VoyageVol. 43

p. 28Vespucci found no law among them, and no sacrifice or house of prayer.read · scan

Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36

p. 20–21New laws and institutions make founding difficult; ordinances need force to be observed.read · scan
p. 40Main foundations of all States are good laws and good arms, and laws follow from good arms.read · scan
p. 57Two ways of contending: by laws, proper to men, or by force, proper to beasts.read · scan
p. 84Reformers of a state win honour by devising new laws and institutions on a solid basis.read · scan

Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36

p. 137Distant cities and commonwealths are found governed by good and wholesome laws.read · scan
p. 137–139Rare and hard to find citizens ruled by good laws; foolish laws abroad and wise ones from which our nations may amend.read · scan
p. 209–210Council authorizes divorce; law proposed to prevent deceit in marriage.read · scan
p. 224Convert exiled as a seditious raiser of dissension under an ancient tolerance law.read · scan
p. 224His decree punishes violent contenders with banishment or bondage, to keep peace.read · scan
p. 236Wholesome laws executed at home maintain perfect concord.read · scan

Edward Haies, Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to NewfoundlandVol. 33

p. 279Gilbert proclaims three laws: Church of England religion, treason for attacking the Queen's right, and penalty for dishonoring her.read · scan

Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3

p. 127–129Lawgivers are called second founders because they govern by their ordinances after they are gone.read · scan

Francis Bacon, The New AtlantisVol. 3

p. 150–151State grants license to stay six weeks, law not precise, with limits on travel beyond the walls.read · scan
p. 156Laws of secrecy touching strangers limit what the Governor may reveal.read · scan
p. 159–160King Solamona, lawgiver, ordains prohibitions on entry of strangers to preserve the happy state, yet with humane provision for distressed strangers.read · scan
p. 160–161The lawgiver restrains travel abroad, save one exception, contrasting China's isolation, which springs from pusillanimity and fear.read · scan
p. 167Joabin is versed in the laws and customs of the nation; Moses is said to have ordained its laws by Cabala.read · scan
p. 168–169Wise marriage laws penalize marriage without parental consent through inheritance.read · scan

Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34

p. 375Observers of religion's seed shaped it into laws and added inventions to govern others.read · scan
p. 379–380Lawgivers of Gentiles founded religion; God's laws come through Abraham, Moses and Christ.read · scan
p. 382Lawgivers claimed divine origin and made legal prohibitions seem displeasing to gods.read · scan

John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That AspersionVol. 43

p. 87General courts may make laws and constitutions for welfare and good government.read · scan
p. 88Power to make wholesome laws and ordinances not contrary to England's realm.read · scan
p. 95Lawmakers need God-given wisdom and may trust successors' judges likewise.read · scan

René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the SciencesVol. 34

p. 12Laws evolved by experience yield worse institutions than those designed by one wise legislator.read · scan
p. 12–13Sparta's preeminence came from laws designed by one man toward a single end.read · scan

First Charter of VirginiaVol. 43

p. 52–53Councils govern according to laws, ordinances and instructions issued by the King.read · scan

John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4

p. 342In the wilderness they found their government and Senate to rule by ordained laws.read · scan

Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34

p. 75–76Penn as legislator of Pennsylvania enacts wise, unchanged laws, first not to injure anyone on religious account.read · scan
p. 77–78Penn's laws observed in his absence; oath requirements bar Quakers from Parliament and office.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 300–301The true lawgiver must have sensibility, love his kind and fear himself.read · scan

Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26

p. 402–403The 1291 Bond sets rules: penalties for murder, arson, robbery, debt, submission to judges and mutual help.read · scan

Friedrich von Schiller, Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of ManVol. 32

p. 214–215Lawgiver cannot count on free moral character; transition from force to law is required.read · scan

Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Defence of PoetryVol. 27

p. 331–332Poets as legislators discover the laws according to which present things ought to be ordered.read · scan

John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25

p. 18Demosthenes' orations illustrate Athenian institutions and principles of legislation and government.read · scan

Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29

p. 465Radack laws give such stones to the chief and punish theft of them.read · scan

John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28

p. 157–158Lord means maintainer of laws, holding title as maintainer of the justice of the Lord of Lords.read · scan

6b.Laws as arising from convention and consent

Plato, The Apology of SocratesVol. 2

p. 12–13Meletus names the laws, then the judges and citizens, as improvers of youth.read · scan

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9

p. 94–95The law recalling him passed the comitia with great enthusiasm from all ages and ranks.read · scan

Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13

p. 389Trojans and Italians are to be joined in their laws, lands and abodes.read · scan

Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36

p. 196Covenants and just common laws, made by a good prince or consenting people, must be kept in dividing life's commodities.read · scan

John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That AspersionVol. 43

p. 97People's implicit consent to lawmakers binds outward obedience but does not make an unjust law just or warrant a judge's conscience.read · scan

Sir Henry Vane, A Healing QuestionVol. 43

p. 129–130Individuals execute and obey sovereign laws issued by their own deputies and trustees.read · scan

The Mayflower CompactVol. 43

p. 59They promise due submission and obedience to laws they will enact.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48

p. 103Fundamental laws change after a few years; jurisprudence reversed by latitude.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48

p. 378–379Property and inheritance rest on the will of legislators, not natural right; once established, it is unjust to violate these laws.read · scan

The Fundamental Orders of ConnecticutVol. 43

p. 63–64The General Court alone may make or repeal laws and levy taxes.read · scan

The Instrument of GovernmentVol. 43

p. 106–107Laws and taxes may not be made or altered without common consent in Parliament.read · scan

Alexander Pope, Solitude; On a Certain Lady at Court; Essay on ManVol. 40

p. 428Laws arise because each man's wants and fears lead all to join in guarding what each desires.read · scan

Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34

p. 79Episcopal dignity derives from a law made by laymen rather than divine right.read · scan

Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1

p. 45–46Franklin proposes alterations to the shop's chappel laws and carries them against opposition.read · scan
p. 159Dispute over whether royal instructions are law and whether the king can make or repeal colonial laws without assent.read · scan
p. 160Franklin recalls a bill to make royal instructions laws in the colonies.read · scan

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among MankindVol. 34

p. 165–166Aims to show the moment when right replaced violence and nature became subject to law.read · scan
p. 187Savages are restrained not by law or developed understanding but by calm passions.read · scan
p. 211–212Rules of justice and wise laws would bind powerful and weak alike.read · scan
p. 214Laws were eluded a thousand ways, and magistrates were needed to enforce obedience.read · scan
p. 217Prince obeys laws and laws are equitable and directed to public good, following Plato.read · scan
p. 219The state's essence lies in the laws; if they cease, magistrates lose legitimacy.read · scan
p. 222Laws, weaker than passions, restrain men without changing them; a perfect country would need no laws or magistrates.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 154The king reigns according to the laws of his country under the legal conditions of the compact of sovereignty.read · scan
p. 196Law is beneficence acting by a rule; men have a right to live by that rule.read · scan

Sir William Jones, PoemsVol. 41

p. 579Sovereign Law is the state's collected will, crowning good, repressing ill and quelling dissension.read · scan

Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26

p. 423The assembly adopts the law that anyone speaking of Austrian allegiance forfeits rights; this makes them free.read · scan

Friedrich von Schiller, Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of ManVol. 32

p. 211Political questions once settled by the law of the stronger are to be settled by reason.read · scan
p. 213–214A state founded on force contradicts man's moral nature, which only lawfulness can govern.read · scan
p. 216–217The state may take on the severe aspect of law against the citizen, or serve as his inner legislation.read · scan
p. 293Ethical state submits individual will to the general will; aesthetic law is giving freedom through freedom.read · scan

The Declaration of IndependenceVol. 43

p. 152–153Accuses the king of abolishing valuable laws and suspending colonial legislatures while claiming power to legislate in all cases.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, CharacterVol. 5

p. 193Nature denies that laws fashion the citizen.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, PoliticsVol. 5

p. 239Law is only a memorandum of agreement; foolish legislation perishes, and statutes have force only as living character gives them.read · scan
p. 246Laws express human nature and common conscience; absolute right is the first governor, every government an impure theocracy.read · scan
p. 247Perception shared is law for both; commands ordained from afar will never be obeyed.read · scan

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42

p. 998–1000In its season the law should fall from Discussion's lip, binding the interests of all.read · scan

Edward Augustus Freeman, Race and LanguageVol. 28

p. 244–245Legal fictions, like Roman adoption, treat adopted members as kin and shape institutions.read · scan
p. 247Legal process of adoption and naturalization creates artificial kinship and rights.read · scan

6c.Custom, prescription and the reason of ages

William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35

p. 361Ethelred's law required every holder of 310 hidelands to furnish a ship for the wars.read · scan

Sir Walter Raleigh, Preface to the History of the WorldVol. 39

p. 86Philip tramples the Netherlands' fundamental laws and ancient rights, sworn oaths dispensed by the Pope.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 160Succession rests on common and statute law; power is bound by moral competence, permanent reason and justice rather than the will of a prevailing force.read · scan
p. 161–163Succession is settled by acts of Parliament binding heirs and posterity, securing an hereditary crown and allegiance.read · scan
p. 170Lawyers trace Magna Charta back to older standing law, showing the prepossession towards antiquity.read · scan
p. 171Statutes preserve religion, laws and liberties long possessed, avoiding speculative theoryread · scan
p. 231Jurisprudence is the collected reason of ages, combining original justice with human concerns; without stable laws men lack settled hope and fear.read · scan
p. 242Property held under law, usage, court decisions and a thousand years' prescription is denied by calling seizure a legal judgment.read · scan
p. 256–257Abolition of the independent parliaments removed a rallying point of ancient laws and jurisprudence.read · scan
p. 285Prescription is defended as part of natural law; the Assembly despises law and usage, threatening all legal proprietors.read · scan
p. 285Legislators claim prescription cannot bind a legislative assembly; Burke denies parliaments any right to violate property or overrule prescription.read · scan
p. 297–298Assembly holds power under no constitutional law or ancient usage; prescription mellows violent beginnings into legality.read · scan
p. 353Prescription, succession and natural law are set against each other; there is said to be no prescription against nature.read · scan

Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Noble LordVol. 24

p. 407Defends prescription and the stable laws of property against revolutionary system that treats immemorial possession as aggravated injustice.read · scan
p. 407–408Church and state are the holy of holies of ancient law.read · scan
p. 414Rights-of-man lawyers would claim all property as national, overriding English common law.read · scan

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19

p. 79–81Customs and laws are an inherited disease, turning reason to nonsense; the law born with us is ignored.read · scan

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, EgmontVol. 19

p. 273–274Each province and city keeps its own law; burghers of Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent are governed differently.read · scan

Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26

p. 420They ruled by their own laws and usages; the Emperor's right limited to adjudging death penalty.read · scan

The Mecklenburg Declaration of IndependenceVol. 43

p. 156Adopts former laws as a rule of life while denying the Crown any authority.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5

p. 370–371Every Englishman searches for precedent; law's favorite phrase is custom whereof memory runneth not back.read · scan

Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17

p. 354Custom grants a condemned man an innocent last request.read · scan

6d.Laws obeyed because they are laws, not because just

Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48

p. 104Laws are obeyed as law, not as just; their motives are feeble, yet reverence for them is awesome.read · scan
p. 104Law introduced without reason has become reasonable; people shake off the yoke once they see through it.read · scan
p. 104–106Law must be made to seem authoritative and eternal, its origin concealed, lest it soon end.read · scan
p. 106Laws of the country and of the majority are the only universal rules, because of the might in them.read · scan
p. 112–113Laws should be obeyed as laws, knowing they hold no truth or justice; but the people revolt when laws are proved valueless.read · scan
p. 113Tell the people laws must be obeyed because they are laws, as superiors are obeyed for being superiors, preventing sedition.read · scan

David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human UnderstandingVol. 37

p. 365Laws rest on rewards and punishments having uniform influence on the mind; this influence is a cause, an instance of necessity.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 214Laws supported only by terror lack the public affections and manners that aid and correct law.read · scan

Friedrich von Schiller, Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of ManVol. 32

p. 222–223Subjects coldly receive laws that do not address their personality; public authority is hated or merely respected.read · scan

Percy Bysshe Shelley, The CenciVol. 18

p. 351The Pope is likened to a rite, a law, a custom, not a man; authority treated as inviolable.read · scan

Victor Hugo, Preface to CromwellVol. 39

p. 357–358Unities are called a fundamental law of the pseudo-Aristotelian code that cracks at the first blow.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, PoliticsVol. 5

p. 250No one has denied the authority of laws on the ground of his own moral nature.read · scan

7.Obedience and the citizen's duty to law

7a.Socrates and the laws of Athens

Plato, The Apology of SocratesVol. 2

p. 6He makes his defence in obedience to the law.read · scan

Plato, CritoVol. 2

p. 38–39The laws personified argue Socrates must not overturn the sentence; a state cannot subsist if legal decisions are set aside by individuals.read · scan
p. 39–40Disobeying the laws is thrice wrong: against parents, educators and agreement; laws offer persuasion or obedience.read · scan
p. 40–41The laws accuse him of breaking covenants made freely over seventy years; a state without laws is unlovable.read · scan
p. 42Escape would make Socrates a subverter of laws, confirming his judges, and a corrupter of the young.read · scan
p. 42–43The laws warn that their brethren below will receive him as an enemy if he tries to destroy them.read · scan

7b.Obeying the laws of one's country

Sophocles, AntigoneVol. 8

p. 266–267Honouring the country's laws and gods' oaths raises a man in the state.read · scan

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9

p. 120He calls Clodius enemy of the laws and law courts, peace and country.read · scan

Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44

p. 406Question whether tribute to Caesar is lawful; render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.read · scan

Plutarch, ThemistoclesVol. 12

p. 28Artabanus calls honoring the king the most excellent of Persian laws.read · scan

Plutarch, AlcibiadesVol. 12

p. 119His contempt of law disgusts the reputable citizens.read · scan
p. 141Followers urge abolishing the people's laws and ordinances so he could act unaccountable.read · scan

Plutarch, CoriolanusVol. 12

p. 159–160Plebeians accused of overthrowing law and magistracy and refusing obedience.read · scan

Michel de Montaigne, Of FriendshipVol. 32

p. 85–86He held it a maxim to obey the laws of his birth.read · scan

William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35

p. 254–255Appeals to the express law of God commanding obedience to rulers.read · scan

Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14

p. 458Trooper says his duty is only to obey and execute his superior's command, not decide whether the man is mad.read · scan

William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46

p. 171–172The King cannot put the strong law on Hamlet because the multitude loves him and would weigh the scourge, not the offence.read · scan

René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the SciencesVol. 34

p. 21He resolves to obey the laws of his country.read · scan

Sir Henry Vane, A Healing QuestionVol. 43

p. 125The sword is to be subject and subservient to the wisdom of the laws and orders.read · scan

William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1

p. 351–352Ministers should show the law and resign if overruled.read · scan

William Penn, More Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1

p. 372–373Law, not virtue, is what keeps many from defrauding men.read · scan

Daniel Defoe, The Shortest-Way with the DissentersVol. 27

p. 134–135Argues executing known laws on Dissenters who consented to them is justice, not persecution.read · scan

John Woolman, The Journal of John WoolmanVol. 1

p. 243–244Some argued Friends were excused if only in lotteries agreeable to law.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 155–156The people are bound by their country's laws to resist the asserted rights.read · scan
p. 356Burke asks what lawful authority remains to exact taxes once old authorities are overthrown and disobedience ratified.read · scan

Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Noble LordVol. 24

p. 381–382Grenville defends the sovereign's government and the security of laws, liberties and morals.read · scan

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hermann and DorotheaVol. 19

p. 376Once barriers are torn away, evil held back by law is let loose.read · scan

Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6

p. 52–54Poet keeps the law in small points; breaking one is said to break all.read · scan

Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26

p. 439–441Soldiers claim to do their duty by enforcing the mandate, while Rosselmann and Furst vouch for Tell as an honest citizen.read · scan

George Washington, Washington's Farewell AddressVol. 43

p. 239Compliance with the laws is enjoined by the maxims of true liberty; obstructing their execution is destructive.read · scan

Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln's First Inaugural AddressVol. 43

p. 315–316Better to obey unrepealed acts than violate them trusting to find them unconstitutional.read · scan
p. 319Laws are enforced imperfectly where the moral sense of the people only weakly supports them; the people abide by dry legal obligation.read · scan

Abraham Lincoln, Proclamation of AmnestyVol. 43

p. 417Allegiance to acts of Congress and Supreme Court decisions is required.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23

p. 100Resisting the commander is resisting the law; mutiny or piracy the only alternatives to submission.read · scan

Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, Terms of Lee's Surrender at AppomattoxVol. 43

p. 421–422Paroled officers and men may return home undisturbed so long as they observe paroles and laws.read · scan

Hippolyte Taine, Introduction to the History of English LiteratureVol. 39

p. 423England's long political establishment keeps men independent yet obedient under law.read · scan

7c.Law and the liberty of the individual

Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9

p. 402–403Trajan permits a charitable society under the city's own treaty-guaranteed laws but prohibits factious assemblies elsewhere.read · scan

John Calvin, Dedication of the Institutes of the Christian ReligionVol. 39

p. 43–45Those abusing grace as license for vice may be punished by laws and penalties, without blaming the Gospel.read · scan

John Milton, AreopagiticaVol. 3

p. 200No scripture prohibits particular reading; Paul's converts burned magic books voluntarily, not by magisterial law.read · scan
p. 204Plato's book of laws, which no city adopted, proposed licensing poets; Milton says no well-instituted state used licensing and Plato meant it only for his imagined commonwealth.read · scan
p. 205Plato's licensing of poems only made sense with his other provisions; taken alone it is vain, and no magistrate or city imitated it.read · scan
p. 206The art of law lies in discerning where restraint and punishment are needed and where persuasion alone should work.read · scan
p. 207A law is frivolous if it restrains things that work equally to good and evil.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48

p. 125–126Things have no limits; laws impose them and the mind cannot endure it.read · scan

The Instrument of GovernmentVol. 43

p. 115–116Laws contrary to religious liberty are declared null and void.read · scan

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

p. 251–252Law's proper business is to support natural liberty, yet all governments restrain its exertions when public security requires.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 220England imprisons libellers of French queens; Gordon's liberty forfeited by unvirtuous use.read · scan

John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25

p. 199Rules of conduct must be imposed by law, and by opinion where law is unfit.read · scan
p. 201–202Law's control is lighter than opinion's in England, with little discrimination of legitimate legal control.read · scan
p. 216–217The law has been used to root out the best men and noblest doctrines, as history shows.read · scan
p. 223Laws still penalize expression of opinion and exclude unbelievers from giving evidence in court, citing 1857 cases.read · scan
p. 246–247Law cannot presume to interfere with controversial misconduct or intemperate discussion.read · scan
p. 254–255Law and discipline once controlled strong-willed men, as Popes against Emperors, claiming power over the whole man.read · scan
p. 275–276Asks whether law and organized opinion should repress self-injuring vices as they do other prohibited acts.read · scan
p. 276Definite harm to individuals or the public places conduct within morality or law.read · scan
p. 279–280The public wrongly invests personal preferences with the character of moral laws.read · scan
p. 284Mill criticizes laws prohibiting innocent things to reach what the public thinks wrong, and the Maine Law's impracticability.read · scan
p. 284–286Law may guarantee observance of the custom of rest but not restrict amusements on religious grounds.read · scan
p. 292Bentham's 'preappointed evidence', like formalities for contracts, lets law hinder crime through sales of dangerous articles without infringing liberty.read · scan
p. 294Legislative interference is legitimate only via special legal restrictions on those already proven dangerous to others.read · scan
p. 294Statutes against unlawful games are called indefensible, and prohibition of gambling-houses is never effectual, only driving them to secrecy.read · scan
p. 298Engagements should generally be kept, though laws everywhere except those violating third parties' rights or harming the agent.read · scan
p. 298Humboldt argues personal engagements should never be legally binding beyond a limited duration.read · scan
p. 303–305Continental laws forbidding marriage without means to support a family are within the State's legitimate powers, not violations of liberty.read · scan
p. 310Central authority's power should be limited to compelling local officers to obey laws laid down for them.read · scan
p. 310Local rules are laid down by the legislature and violations answerable to law; Poor Law Board example.read · scan

Walter Bagehot, John MiltonVol. 28

p. 182–183Milton's book on divorce argued for the virtuous man's resource of divorce.read · scan
p. 183–184Bagehot discusses divorce as protection against unsympathizing spouses and doubts reforms weakening the permanent marriage system.read · scan

8.The making, wisdom and fate of positive legislation

8a.Few, plain and stable laws

Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44

p. 7Ruling by law and punishment makes men shun crime but lose shame; example and courtesy make them good.read · scan

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9

p. 95–97Consular law contrasted with Messius's intolerable bill giving Pompey extraordinary power.read · scan

Tacitus, GermanyVol. 33

p. 103Good manners are said to be more powerful than good laws.read · scan

Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20

p. 169Florence's laws, coins, offices and customs are renewed so often that her legislation is fickle.read · scan

Dante Alighieri, ParadiseVol. 20

p. 305–306Justinian cleared the laws of vain excess.read · scan

Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36

p. 210Utopians keep few, plain laws; innumerable obscure statutes and lawyers are reproved, and each man pleads his own case.read · scan
p. 210–213Laws exist to remind men of duty, so plain meaning is best; subtle interpretation defeats their purpose.read · scan

Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German NationVol. 36

p. 324Civil law is a wilderness; simple local custom and good governors should replace elaborate imperial law that burdens the people.read · scan

Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14

p. 479Argues commonwealths that permit comedies should appoint laws and limits for them.read · scan

John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That AspersionVol. 43

p. 89Argues officers are bound by a rule, so government is not arbitrary.read · scan
p. 99–100All must know the laws they are bound by, but penalties need not be declared beforehand; the virtuous obey from conscience.read · scan
p. 105Insists laws be declared so all people know them; unjust to require obedience to unknown law.read · scan

René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the SciencesVol. 34

p. 16–17Analogy: a state is best governed when it has few laws rigidly administered.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48

p. 390Montaigne argues multiplicity of laws and commentaries increase disputes and obscurity rather than ending lawsuits.read · scan

John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning EducationVol. 37

p. 44Make few laws but see they are well observed; too many rules cheapen authority.read · scan

William Penn, More Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1

p. 391Sumptuary laws limiting pride and excess were wisely made; neglect of them is reproach.read · scan

Daniel Defoe, The Shortest-Way with the DissentersVol. 27

p. 142–143One severe, punctually executed law would succeed where fines fail.read · scan

Jonathan Swift, A Treatise on Good Manners and Good BreedingVol. 27

p. 99Compares manners to law: best law and best manners rest on reason; opposes new laws against duelling.read · scan

Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1

p. 98–99Junto-prepared opinion paved the way for a law obtained years later.read · scan

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

p. 509–510Uncertainty and abuse in French registration arise from imprecise words in edicts and laws.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 158–159Certainty of succession is declared essential to the unity, peace and tranquillity of the nation.read · scan
p. 337The parliaments gave certainty and stability to laws amid changes of humour and opinion, and guarded private property.read · scan
p. 338–339Ruling by occasional decrees broke the consistency of law and destroyed ancient democracies; judges sworn to obey future orders leave no ground of law.read · scan

Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for ScandalVol. 18

p. 135–137Sir Peter proposes legal penalties for slander, likening it to currency with indorsers liable when the drawer of the lie is missing.read · scan

George Washington, Washington's Farewell AddressVol. 43

p. 248He looks forward to the benign influence of good laws under a free government.read · scan

Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21

p. 129–130The sexton objects that the monastic rule forbids women in church at night; Cristoforo overrides it with 'Omnia munda mundis'.read · scan
p. 264–265Rural folk wonder whether the city's reformers will make good laws for them too.read · scan
p. 268–269The posted bread rate is offered as the remedy; countrymen ask whether good laws reach them.read · scan
p. 584–585The regulation barring men from the women's quarter is called just and good.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5

p. 320–321Coleridge says Sicily's legislation is the reverse of wise, while in Malta law and mind made a barren rock populous and plentiful.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23

p. 360No legislation can fix the weight of seamen's evidence; it rests on judge and jury, so positive enactment would be useless.read · scan
p. 373Dana cautions against new laws and arbitrary regulations on ship discipline, since lawmakers are little qualified to judge their operation.read · scan

8b.Unenforced and futile proclamations

See also: Government 6e · Punishment 3c

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9

p. 99Senate decrees political clubs be broken up, with penalties as for riot.read · scan

Plutarch, PericlesVol. 12

p. 73–74The statute on legitimacy produced many suits and false accusations.read · scan

William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35

p. 224–225A statute of Edward III regulated merchant trade but is not enforced.read · scan
p. 271Scottish Parliament's sumptuary law restricting baked meats to gentlemen on feast daysread · scan
p. 314–315A law requiring flax sowing is contemptuously ignored; many changing laws are said to breed contempt of order.read · scan
p. 315Lawmakers' ease in dispensing with good laws and breaking them themselves causes inferiors to disregard order and follow their betters' example.read · scan
p. 369A parish failing to catch thieves is fined and must repay the victim; good laws go unexecuted through neglect.read · scan

Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Life Is a DreamVol. 26

p. 18Clotaldo challenges the strangers for violating the known proclamation forbidding the place; they plead ignorance.read · scan

John Milton, AreopagiticaVol. 3

p. 191–192Critiques Parliament's licensing order and shows it cannot suppress seditious books.read · scan
p. 208–209The licensing order is futile: unenforced against royalist libels, it would demand endless lists, expurgations and officials, reproducing the model of Trent and Seville.read · scan

Daniel Defoe, The Shortest-Way with the DissentersVol. 27

p. 143–144Lenient fines make a mockery of law and Christian government; severity would be justified.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 206–207The assembly invokes the protection of law while ministers declare no law, authority or power remains to enforce it.read · scan
p. 344Decrees and proclamations are renewed as they prove ineffectual, showing the impotence of mere legislation.read · scan

Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21

p. 10Governor's edicts against bravoes, with draconian penalties and repeated proclamations, show legislation issued without effect.read · scan
p. 11–12Successive governors reissue near-identical proclamations against bravoes, showing their futility.read · scan
p. 12–13Proclamations against bravoes republished again and again through 1632 yet bravoes persist.read · scan
p. 16Abundant harsh laws fail to protect the peaceful; impunity is entrenched and proclamations only vex the innocent.read · scan
p. 16Proclamations are mere paper against privileged classes; officers take pay for inaction.read · scan
p. 43–44Edict of harsh penalties by governors, read with irony; laws multiply and threaten severity while crime keeps growing.read · scan
p. 44–45Proclamation regulates the length of hair, penalizing the wearing of a bravo's lock with fines and galleys.read · scan
p. 173Egidio and his bravoes defy public force and the authority of the laws.read · scan
p. 197–198The price decree, unreasonable and unjust, is enforced by the multitude, while magistrates threaten punishment.read · scan
p. 227Proclamations against oppressors exist but go unenforced; Renzo says doctors and scribes ignore them, suggesting a league between the powerful and officials.read · scan
p. 227–229Renzo insists those who issue proclamations should ensure obedience, that edicts be enforced everywhere and lawyers heed the poor.read · scan
p. 231–232The landlord produces pen and paper to register the guest as the proclamation requires.read · scan
p. 232The landlord demands Renzo's name, business and arms as the proclamation requires; Renzo mocks the edict and its governor's emblem.read · scan
p. 233Renzo scorns proclamations as empty: they never send oppressors to the galleys or help an honest youth marry; laws are new every day.read · scan
p. 242–243The landlord urges that laws demanding guests' names must be obeyed or he will suffer punishment.read · scan
p. 244–245Proclamations penalizing innkeepers who fail to record guests' names, with fines and galleys, enforced by informers, drive the landlord's caution.read · scan
p. 313He does what public laws forbid, is outlawed and banished, yet flouts the governor.read · scan
p. 314Banishment against him is withdrawn by intercession or ignored, showing law's impotence against power.read · scan
p. 450Proclamations issued by arbitrary authority are so impractical that they could hardly be executed.read · scan
p. 557Orders requiring health certificates are so imperfectly executed that entering the plague-stricken city is easy.read · scan
p. 558Gate regulations are evaded by bribery and lax officials who avoid approaching travelers.read · scan
p. 621Orders and proclamations against persons, flung about too freely, went unexecuted; excess of regulation produces deficiency of enforcement.read · scan
p. 628Don Abbondio cites the standing edict against Renzo as obstacle and advises seeking a powerful protector.read · scan

Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29

p. 262–264Old Spanish law encourages mining by letting a discoverer work any ground, even a private garden, for a five-shilling fee.read · scan
p. 415A law forbids importing or selling spirits, penalized by fine, with a fair grace period for stock in hand.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23

p. 205Duties and the single custom-house at Monterey are circumvented by smuggling.read · scan
p. 234–235The brig hunts otter and smuggles without license or duty, evading the government's fees and regulations.read · scan

8c.Laws that cannot override economic tendencies

See also: Labor 7d · Liberty 8b · Wealth 10d

Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36

p. 165–168Statutes limiting land, money, royal power and office-buying could mitigate evils but not cure them while property is private.read · scan

Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German NationVol. 36

p. 331He asks for a general law of the German nation against luxury in dress.read · scan

William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35

p. 249Suggests enactments forcing farmers to sell at their nearest market and barns to be surveyed.read · scan
p. 272Fish days ordained by law to increase cattle, fish supply and seafaring men for the navyread · scan
p. 321Sharp laws secure true mixture of pewter, unmatched in other trades.read · scan
p. 334King John restrained hawking and taking wild fowl for a season, replenishing the stock.read · scan
p. 336Acts of Parliament reward killing ravenous fowls, following an ordinance borrowed from the Goths.read · scan

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

p. 43Public law came to fix the ratio between gold and silver coin, making the standard distinction merely nominal.read · scan
p. 45Legal regulation fixes copper pence at a shilling's worth, and orders gold received by weight to preserve its standard.read · scan
p. 63Statutes and police regulations restrain competition and sustain price enhancements as long as they last.read · scan
p. 64–65Proportion of wages and profits across employments depends partly on the laws and policy of the society.read · scan
p. 72Riches limited by the nature of a country's laws and institutions.read · scan
p. 77Experience shows law can never properly regulate wages, though it has often pretended to.read · scan
p. 90–91Statutes fixing legal interest rates followed rather than led the market; religious prohibition of interest failed and increased usury.read · scan
p. 92Legal interest rates are evaded by safe methods, so law does not govern the market rate.read · scan
p. 97Laws and institutions limit a nation's riches; failure to enforce contracts raises interest to usurious levels.read · scan
p. 97–98Prohibiting interest does not prevent it but raises the rate to cover the danger of evading the law.read · scan
p. 103Laws and customs of Europe impose apprenticeship for artificers but leave country labour open.read · scan
p. 121–122Corporation bye-laws regulate apprentice numbers and terms to restrain competition.read · scan
p. 122Corporation bye-laws limiting apprentices were confirmed by public law, dictated by corporation spirit.read · scan
p. 123–124The Statute of Apprenticeship made corporation bye-laws general law, producing foolish distinctions of what trades fall within it.read · scan
p. 124Statutes of apprenticeship give no security against fraud; sterling marks and stamps protect buyers better.read · scan
p. 127–128Regulations that raise town wages and profits break the natural equality of commerce between town and country.read · scan
p. 130–131Corporation laws and duties on foreign goods let towns raise prices, paid by country people.read · scan
p. 131–132Law cannot prevent trade meetings consistently with liberty and justice, but should not facilitate them by registers or incorporations.read · scan
p. 133–134Statutes fixing curates' stipends were ineffectual because competition overrode legal wage regulation.read · scan
p. 136–138The statute of apprenticeship and corporate privileges obstruct movement of labour.read · scan
p. 138Smith calls the apprenticeship statute and corporation laws absurd because they block workmen from changing trades.read · scan
p. 139Traces the statutes from Elizabeth to Charles II that created the law of settlement and parish removal.read · scan
p. 140Successive statutes amended settlement rules to counter frauds by parish officers, requiring written notice and publication in church.read · scan
p. 140–141Statute lists four other ways to gain settlement, each effectively closed to a laborer with only his labour.read · scan
p. 141–142Details statutes on certificates, security sums and removal, with discretion left to justices of the peace.read · scan
p. 142–143Doctor Burn's observations on certificates: parish officers may arbitrarily grant or refuse them, and courts decline to compel signing.read · scan
p. 143–144The law of settlements is condemned as ill-contrived and a public grievance.read · scan
p. 145–146Statutes for fixing the assize of bread are discussed, with Scottish defects in the law.read · scan
p. 173–174Peruvian and Cornish regulations let discoverers of new mines become proprietors, overriding landowners' rights.read · scan
p. 195Prohibitions on exporting wool and duty-free imports confined the market by legal regulation.read · scan
p. 204–205A statute of Henry VII fixed a maximum retail price for fine cloth under penalty of forfeit.read · scan
p. 205Sumptuary law restrained the luxury and extravagance of servants and labourers in dress.read · scan
p. 253Acts of parliament suppressed optional clauses and small notes, restoring exchange to its natural rate.read · scan
p. 254Positive law can make a legal tender for debts but cannot compel sellers to value paper equal to gold.read · scan
p. 255Act of parliament barred new colonial paper currency from being legal tender.read · scan
p. 273–274Sumptuary laws restraining private expense are condemned as impertinent.read · scan
p. 284Legal prohibition of interest has increased usury, since debtors must pay for the lender's risk.read · scan
p. 284–285A legal maximum interest rate should sit slightly above the lowest market rate to check usury without harming credit.read · scan
p. 285–286No law can push interest below the market rate; the French edict of 1766 was evaded and money still lent at five per cent.read · scan
p. 313Prohibition on exporting gold and silver cannot prevent smuggling, only makes it costlier.read · scan
p. 317–318Sanguinary laws of Spain, Portugal and customs, even Lycurgus's, cannot keep metals in or out against demand.read · scan
p. 332Customs laws prohibit many imports, giving domestic manufacturers a monopoly.read · scan
p. 336Lawgiver's regulations intended to increase produce actually diminish its exchangeable value.read · scan
p. 342–343Sets out the specific provisions and penalties of the Navigation Act, such as forfeiture of ship and cargo.read · scan
p. 353Recounts successive statutory duties, such as the impost of 1692 and the 1696 duty, effectively prohibiting French goods.read · scan
p. 380Prohibitions, penalties and vigilant police cannot hold more metal than the country's produce can employ; law fails against economic tendency.read · scan
p. 395The Agrarian law restricting land to five hundred jugera was neglected or evaded, though tribunes called it the republic's fundamental law.read · scan
p. 405Statutes such as those of Edward IV and Elizabeth prohibited importing wool cards and made prohibition perpetual.read · scan
p. 411Traces successive statutes against wool exportation, their repeal or persistence, and severity that defeated enforcement.read · scan
p. 411–412Oppressive restrictions on inland wool commerce and packing show legislation burdening ordinary trade to prevent exportation.read · scan
p. 413Detailed troublesome wool regulations in Kent and Sussex, requiring notices, bonds and entries, with forfeitures for breach.read · scan
p. 417Prohibitions and penalties cannot prevent smuggling when price differences tempt; rigorous law fails to control exportation.read · scan
p. 419Successive statutes regulate exportation and importation, with exceptions and duties.read · scan
p. 420Enormous export duty tempts smuggling so it had to be reduced.read · scan
p. 422–423Statutes prohibit exporting machinery and emigration of artificers, with escalating penalties and security bonds.read · scan
p. 462Exempting dealers from general laws merely because they might thrive is unreasonable.read · scan
p. 505Deeds are made invalid unless stamped or registered; Augustus's inheritance tax exempted near relations and the poor.read · scan
p. 507–508Testaments confiscated if stamped inadequately; law proceedings and grants carry high stamp duties.read · scan
p. 538Revenue laws make a crime of what nature never meant criminal; corrupted governments' laws are little respected, turning the smuggler into a habitual violator.read · scan
p. 552–553The faith of contracts must be supported by law for commerce to thrive.read · scan

Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for ScandalVol. 18

p. 144–145The Annuity Bill is discussed as a statute protecting young heirs from usury.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5

p. 400–401Violence of artificial legislation brings daily the calamities financial crisis brings.read · scan

Charles Darwin, The Origin of SpeciesVol. 11

p. 44–45Old English laws prevented export of choice animals and ordered destruction of small horses.read · scan

John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28

p. 124Argues that the principle that the poor-rate dispensers are the nation's almoners is the foundation of all law respecting pauperism.read · scan
p. 132No law about land or incomes helps so long as national temper is unprincipled; laws help a nation only in its youth.read · scan

8d.Irrevocable laws and the right to reform

Plutarch, PericlesVol. 12

p. 75It seemed strange that Pericles would cancel his own harsh citizenship law, yet pity for his calamity prevailed.read · scan

Plutarch, AntonyVol. 12

p. 344–345The senate dispenses with the law forbidding a widow to marry within ten months.read · scan

Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9

p. 389–390Acts of former reigns are decreed valid, so Domitian's letters stand.read · scan
p. 413–414Trajan holds past irregular elections stand but future ones follow the Pompeian law, since retrospective operation would cause confusion.read · scan
p. 414–415Trajan rules athletes' stipend is not retroactive and prizes already received need not be returned.read · scan

Niccolò Machiavelli, The PrinceVol. 36

p. 9No change in laws or taxes helps a newly acquired state merge with the old.read · scan

John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That AspersionVol. 43

p. 98Lawmakers err more and more harmfully than judges; an unjust law harms posterity while a judge's error is limited.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48

p. 202Laws must give way to necessity in states, but religion's law does not.read · scan

Jean Racine, PhaedraVol. 26

p. 151–153He revokes the harsh decree binding Aricia and acknowledges law excluding him for his foreign mother.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 177–178Laws overturned and tribunals subverted, anarchy made the constitutionread · scan

Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Noble LordVol. 24

p. 396–397Laws of regulation are not fundamental laws; public exigencies rule them and legislators must judge.read · scan

Sydney Smith, Fallacies of Anti-ReformersVol. 27

p. 226–227Old laws may properly be changed by a later age with more experience.read · scan
p. 228–229Irrevocable laws are absurd: every legislature needs the powers its times require, and earlier ages cannot govern later ones by blind guesses.read · scan
p. 230Irrevocable laws bind the living to the dead, ending legislation; Bentham says even Nero's despotism is more tolerable than an irrevocable law.read · scan
p. 231A good law supports itself; living men may make their own laws, and nothing prevents repealing supposedly irrevocable ones such as the navigation laws.read · scan
p. 232Immutable foolish laws get evaded or violated, weakening all law; no human law should be considered irrevocable, as heritable jurisdictions were abolished despite the Act of Union.read · scan
p. 233–234Attacks the notion of an irrevocable law binding later governments, citing outdated penal laws and courts.read · scan
p. 235Good laws and institutions must not be replaced by trust in rulers' character.read · scan

8e.Laws as instruments of the powerful and unjust

Aeschylus, Prometheus BoundVol. 8

p. 171Zeus's new-fashioned laws replace right and the ancient order.read · scan

Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20

p. 208Law must curb the soul's pursuit of slight goods; laws exist but rulers do not observe them.read · scan

Traditional BalladsVol. 40

p. 140–142The justice, held by cloth and fee to the abbot, declares the day broken and land forfeit.read · scan
p. 173–175Robin seeks the king's grace; the king confiscates lands by charter and the old knight warns no one can hold them while Robin lives.read · scan

Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36

p. 157–160Forgotten laws are revived and judges bought so the law serves the king's profit.read · scan
p. 160Law is bent by wrested readings and royal prerogative to serve the king's advantage.read · scan
p. 160The Macarien coronation oath is a law restraining kings' hoarding; kings should not revive forgotten laws for fines.read · scan
p. 165Endless new laws and controversies cannot define whose goods are whose, showing the failure of law under private property.read · scan
p. 236Rich men use common laws to snatch the poor's living and give injustice the name of justice.read · scan
p. 236Rich men's devices become laws once decreed for the commonwealth's sake.read · scan

Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3

p. 92Many severe laws have been made to suppress such prophecies because of the mischief they do.read · scan

William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King LearVol. 46

p. 306–310Goneril claims that the laws are hers and cannot arraign her.read · scan

John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47

p. 759To Ferdinand law is a cobweb dwelling and prison entangling those who feed him.read · scan
p. 820–821Madman says the law eats to the bone.read · scan

Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old DebtsVol. 47

p. 884–885Laws made to curb ill men are cobwebs to Overreach, and no man dares reprove him.read · scan
p. 931Overreach invokes mortgage, statute and gaol to enforce his debt claim.read · scan

Sir Henry Vane, A Healing QuestionVol. 43

p. 124Their actions were seldom justified by former laws and constitutions, but by success and the warrant of justice.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48

p. 305–306Right of the sword; the Fronde's justice against power is injustice.read · scan

William Penn, More Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1

p. 388The greatest injustice passes under the name of law, when law is alleged for what it should punish.read · scan
p. 390Laws excise useful things while pride reigns free.read · scan

Alexander Pope, Solitude; On a Certain Lady at Court; Essay on ManVol. 40

p. 422–426Animal laws are wise as nature; human reason entangles justice in a net of law so right hardens into wrong.read · scan

Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1

p. 8–9Conventicles were forbidden by law; Folger exhorted repeal of uncharitable laws.read · scan

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among MankindVol. 34

p. 190–191Laws restrain violent passions but may have produced the evils they repress, and are insufficient to stop them.read · scan
p. 207Grotius cited: distribution of lands produced right of property distinct from natural law.read · scan
p. 211Institutions were devised to favour rich pretensions where natural law was unfavourable.read · scan
p. 228Inequality becomes permanent and lawful through property and laws; positive right conflicts with the law of nature.read · scan

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

p. 68Law permits masters' combinations yet prohibits workmen's, with acts of parliament only against raising wages.read · scan
p. 144Legislature's counsellors are masters, so regulations of wages and payment in money reflect their interests.read · scan
p. 210Commercial regulations proposed by the trading order should be examined with suspicious attention before adoption.read · scan
p. 410Monopoly-protecting laws are crueller than revenue laws, written like Draco's in blood.read · scan

Oliver Goldsmith, PoemsVol. 41

p. 528–529Fictitious bonds of wealth and law gain strength as duty, love and honour decay.read · scan
p. 530–531New penal statutes drawn by judges serve the rich.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 324Law, which should forbid gaming, is itself debauched into forcing subjects to gamble.read · scan

Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21

p. 45Doctor explains he knows how to manipulate edicts: no one is wholly guilty or innocent, and law is bent by money and influence.read · scan
p. 107–108The plan aims to efface any recourse to the law by intimidation.read · scan
p. 188Rodrigo plans to use edicts and a lawyer to get Renzo banished, judging law a surer weapon than force.read · scan

Percy Bysshe Shelley, The CenciVol. 18

p. 310Law and power are mocked by the wealthy Cenci, leaving no appeal for his victims.read · scan
p. 310Lucretia fears the jealous laws would punish them with death and infamy for what they should themselves have done.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Man the ReformerVol. 5

p. 46–47Laws protecting property seem to issue from selfishness, not love and reason.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5

p. 351Severe game-laws show English sympathy with horses and hunters; safer to shoot a man than a hare.read · scan
p. 397–398Laws are framed to give property the securest basis; rights of property yield only to felony and treason.read · scan

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, PoemsVol. 42

p. 1307Laws of the city are corrupted, and the weak are oppressed by the mighty after a formal trial.read · scan

Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29

p. 492–493Game-laws and an order protecting partridges are shown oppressing the poor.read · scan

9.Courts, judges, lawyers and legal procedure

9a.The judge's office and equity against the rigour of law

See also: Judgment 7a · Punishment 3b · Justice 6a

Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22

p. 172–173The hour is fixed by a judge who rises from settling the young men's quarrels.read · scan

Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44

p. 39Confucius would prevent lawsuits rather than merely judge them.read · scan
p. 41Misuse of words leads to failure of law and justice.read · scan

Plato, The Apology of SocratesVol. 2

p. 22–24The judge has sworn to judge by the laws, not by his own pleasure.read · scan

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9

p. 142He keeps to his own edict, with assent even of grasping lenders.read · scan
p. 147His provincial edict, modelled on Scaevola, judges by equity and lets Greeks settle disputes under their own laws.read · scan

Luke, The Acts of the ApostlesVol. 44

p. 462–463Gallio refuses to judge disputes about words, names and Jewish law, distinguishing them from wrongs.read · scan

Plutarch, CiceroVol. 12

p. 224–225He defends his treatment of Manilius as equity and humanity within what the law allowed, despite the custom of longer delay.read · scan

Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9

p. 252–253Lawyers hold a slave's legacy void without express manumission, but Pliny argues the testatrix's evident intent should prevail over legal form.read · scan
p. 266–272Pliny holds the dead man's will higher than the law barring bequests to corporate cities.read · scan
p. 327Conditions of Mancia's will, emancipation and adoption turn on Roman law of inheritance and are evaded by fraud.read · scan
p. 357Legal privilege given to those with three children; legal formalities of the mother's gift.read · scan
p. 392–393Pliny finds no general regulation and seeks the emperor's direction rather than follow uncertain precedents.read · scan
p. 398–399Pliny and Trajan interpret Pompey's law against Augustus's edict on minimum age for magistrates and senators, deciding which legal provision governs.read · scan
p. 399–402Niceans' claim under an edict of Augustus to estates of citizens dying intestate is to be examined and decided equitably.read · scan
p. 403–404Law grants a privilege to fathers of three children; the emperor grants it sparingly by imperial favor.read · scan

Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16

p. 107–108Inheritance portions fall by law, and the marriage is called lawful under God's ordinance.read · scan

William Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas MoreVol. 36

p. 103Defends injunctions as relief from the rigour of the law, which judges should mitigate by their own discretion.read · scan
p. 103Judges avoid mitigating law's rigour to shift blame onto juries.read · scan

Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3

p. 15Law should suppress revenge, which usurps the law's office.read · scan
p. 129–130Judges' office is jus dicere not jus dare; Church of Rome's altering Scripture under pretext of exposition is likened to it.read · scan
p. 131Judges must avoid hard constructions; penal laws grown outdated should be softened in execution so they do not become snares.read · scan
p. 133Salus populi suprema lex: laws not ordered to the people's good are captious; judges and state should consult one another.read · scan
p. 133–134Just laws and true policy are not opposed but like spirits and sinews; law is good if lawfully used.read · scan

John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That AspersionVol. 43

p. 90–91Argues God gave few prescribed penalties as patterns; judges declare the law's sentence as occasion requires rather than by fixed penalty.read · scan
p. 91–92Many Massachusetts laws and English laws carry no prescribed penalty; England's small fixed penalties undervalue great offences.read · scan
p. 92–93A law is unjust if its annexed penalty is unjust; judges find the rule case by case.read · scan
p. 101–102Committee condemns positions against penal laws as paper sentences and usurping God's authority.read · scan
p. 102–103Argues the word of God and established laws are a rule judges can be required to follow, and that laws are general rules with penalties.read · scan
p. 103Debates whether Scripture examples of God and princes dispensing with rigor of law justify legal doctrines.read · scan

Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3

p. 323Cases indissoluble in law; courts fallible as councils, their rules built on erroneous human reason.read · scan

Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48

p. 296Judges should follow established laws, not make iniquitous ones at will.read · scan

John Dryden, Dedication of the AeneisVol. 13

p. 34Apollo's dispensing power as monarch over poetic rules, likened to Virgil's authority.read · scan

William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1

p. 355Our law says delay of justice is injustice.read · scan
p. 356Judge on the bench knows nothing but the law.read · scan

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

p. 451Law can oblige judges to respect fee regulations, unlike sovereign.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 157Jurisprudence forbids drawing a general principle from a law made for a special case.read · scan
p. 247–248Laws know no rule of decision that makes uninvolved parties answer the debt.read · scan
p. 340Short laws leave much to judicial discretion while the Assembly destroyed the learning that makes discretion sound; administrators are exempted from the law.read · scan

Percy Bysshe Shelley, The CenciVol. 18

p. 298–300Camillo says an obsolete law gives only bare provision and the Pope will not divert the course of law.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5

p. 387–388Statutes and chancellors back up every individual whim, even a testator's endowing a dog.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23

p. 367–368A statute made expressly for masters and officers of merchantmen is weakened in application by judicial leniency.read · scan

9b.Lawyers and legal practice

Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Old AgeVol. 9

p. 57Cicero writes treatises on augural, pontifical and civil law and argues in court.read · scan

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9

p. 172–173Cicero cites jurists on whether an heir may lawfully prosecute embezzlement committed before his ownership, a disputed legal doctrine.read · scan

Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44

p. 386Lawyers load men with burdens they will not touch themselves.read · scan

Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9

p. 218–219Pliny complains that the Hundred court hears only trifling cases and attracts impudent young lawyers.read · scan
p. 260–261Lawyers Corellius and Frontinus assist the hearing; Curianus sues the coheirs in the Court of the Hundred.read · scan
p. 277Senate decree and praetor's edict forbid advocates from taking fees for undertaking causes; obedience to the laws debated.read · scan

Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7

p. 91–92He resists a senator's demand for something forbidden by the laws and practises law to please his parents.read · scan

Dante Alighieri, ParadiseVol. 20

p. 327–328Gratian's epitome of canon law reconciled civil and canon law.read · scan

Jean Froissart, The Chronicles of FroissartVol. 35

p. 64Houses of advocates and procurers are attacked as agents of royal and archiepiscopal courts.read · scan
p. 68Rebels attack houses of advocates and men of court and free prisoners from the king's jails.read · scan

Geoffrey Chaucer, The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales; The Nun's Priest's TaleVol. 40

p. 18The Sergeant of the Law is a discreet, renowned justice on the circuit, learned in cases and statutes.read · scan
p. 19The Lawyer knows all cases and judgments since King William, drafts flawless documents and recites every statute by heart.read · scan
p. 26Lawyers of the temple are expert enough to manage any lord's estate.read · scan

William Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas MoreVol. 36

p. 89More was learned in the laws of England, a study able to occupy a whole life.read · scan
p. 89He continued legal study until called to the Bench and reading twice.read · scan
p. 90–91As under-sheriff and counsel, More earned a large income in the courts.read · scan
p. 91More argued learnedly in the Star Chamber on the Pope's ship forfeiture and won the case.read · scan

Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31

p. 432Deeds and leases are used as instruments of chicanery; signed contracts defeat his complaint.read · scan

William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35

p. 224Parliament makes the laws; lawyers are too numerous and Sparta restrained merchants.read · scan
p. 379–380Inns of Court train students in the common laws, leading to great honour in the commonwealth.read · scan

Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14

p. 193–194They debate bona fide and mala fide possession and legal privilege of the king.read · scan
p. 229–230The curate says a grant in tablets is worthless and must be rewritten on paper according to common legal practice.read · scan
p. 373–375Learning aims to cause good laws to be observed.read · scan
p. 377–378Learning claims laws belong to it and war is subject to them; arms answer that laws cannot be sustained without arms.read · scan

Captain Walter Bigges, Drake's Great ArmadaVol. 33

p. 251–252St. Domingo is described as the seat of lawyers and highest appeal of suits in the islands.read · scan

Sir Walter Raleigh, PoemsVol. 40

p. 203–204Heaven's court has no bribery, unlike earthly courts; Christ is the advocate.read · scan

Sir Philip Sidney, The Defense of PoesyVol. 27

p. 15–16The lawyer makes men avoid harming others through fear of punishment, not love of virtue, so ranks below.read · scan
p. 34–36Knowledge of law, meant to right all things, when abused fosters injuries.read · scan

Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor FaustusVol. 19

p. 205–206Legal study he scorns as mercenary drudgery, servile and illiberal.read · scan

William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46

p. 193–194Hamlet satirizes lawyers' quiddits, statutes, recognizances and conveyances that cannot secure the dead manread · scan

Ben Jonson, The AlchemistVol. 47

p. 598–599Puritans quibble whether coining is lawful, deciding it is merely 'casting' and that they recognize no magistrate.read · scan

John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47

p. 767–772The duchess cites lawyers that a contract per verba de praesenti is absolute marriage, the church merely echoing it.read · scan

Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34

p. 373Lawyers use precedent as a false measure of justice.read · scan

Izaak Walton, The Life of Dr. John DonneVol. 15

p. 332Donne studies Civil and Canon Laws to a perfection matching lifelong students.read · scan
p. 356–357His Biathanatos surveys the laws violated by self-murder, showing his command of civil and canon law.read · scan

John Milton, Tractate on EducationVol. 3

p. 242Study of law from Moses and Greek lawgivers through Roman law to English common law and statutes.read · scan

John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning EducationVol. 37

p. 158A gentleman should know his country's law, studying common law and statutes through history, not the wrangling chicane of legal practice.read · scan

William Penn, Some Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1

p. 352–353Lawyers advise legality and keep to strict rules of law.read · scan

Sir Richard Steele, The Spectator ClubVol. 27

p. 84He was placed to study the laws but neglects them for the stage; Sir Roger presides as justice at sessions.read · scan

Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1

p. 115–116He withdraws from being a justice for lack of knowledge of the common law.read · scan

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10

p. 450–451Lawyers and attorneys must be paid; costs of legal institutions are small part of government expense.read · scan
p. 452–453Clerks paid by page multiply words needlessly, corrupting the language of law proceedings.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 179–180Assembly majority was inferior provincial lawyers and attorneys, not distinguished magistratesread · scan
p. 180–181Lawyers' litigious interests are served by insecurity of property and great convulsionsread · scan
p. 182Legal profession is a priesthood of sacred justice, good in the mix but harmful if it preponderatesread · scan

Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6

p. 130–132Vagabonds mock those protected by law; courts are for cowards.read · scan

Sydney Smith, Fallacies of Anti-ReformersVol. 27

p. 244–245Lawyers' profit from fictitious delay and expense is defended by invoking social order against reform.read · scan

Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21

p. 27–28Don Abbondio hides behind canonical impediments and Latin formalities to postpone the marriage, confusing the ignorant Renzo.read · scan
p. 28–29Don Abbondio pleads he did not make the law and must certify no impediment exists, using Latin text as pretext.read · scan
p. 40–41The poor look to a learned lawyer to resolve their entanglement; the curate's certificate of no impediment is needed before marriage.read · scan
p. 41The lawyer's study, with Caesars' portraits, dusty books and papers, evokes legal practice and its disorder.read · scan
p. 42–43The lawyer cites proclamations and edicts against threatening a curate to prevent a marriage.read · scan

Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25

p. 427–428Anecdotes of old Scotch judges and lawyers, such as Braxfield on circuit, delight the Prince.read · scan

Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5

p. 364Law is a network of fictions; crimes are factitious; Chancery delays are evaded absurdly.read · scan
p. 383–384The English administer the legal codes of every empire they govern, from French law to Justinian's Pandects.read · scan

James Russell Lowell, Abraham LincolnVol. 28

p. 439Lincoln's legal training taught him that principle underlies every phenomenon and that both sides must be understood.read · scan

9c.Trials, procedure and rights of the accused

See also: Justice 7c · Slavery 7c · Liberty 7e

Aeschylus, The FuriesVol. 8

p. 138–140Athena questions the Furies' rights and where a slayer can find rest, asking that oaths not enforce wrong.read · scan
p. 140–142Athena establishes an ordinance for ever to rule cases of blood-guilt, upon oath.read · scan
p. 142–144Chorus fears acquittal will overthrow ancient laws against matricide and make such deeds ready to every hand.read · scan
p. 147–148Apollo urges the judges to follow the decree of Zeus over oaths.read · scan
p. 149–150Athena founds the Areopagus court, a lasting tribunal, to remain pure so long as law stands unmarred by civic change.read · scan
p. 151–152Athena ordains the Areopagus court, pure of gain and swift to vengeance, as a guard of the country.read · scan

Plato, The Apology of SocratesVol. 2

p. 5Socrates, a stranger to courts of law at seventy, asks indulgence for his unfamiliar manner.read · scan
p. 14–15Law takes no cognizance of unintentional offences.read · scan
p. 20The proposal to try the generals together was illegal, and he voted against it.read · scan
p. 25Other cities do not decide capital cases in one day, unlike Athens.read · scan

Plato, PhaedoVol. 2

p. 45–46Athenian law forbids public executions during the sacred Delos voyage, delaying Socrates' death.read · scan

Paul, The First Epistle of Paul to the CorinthiansVol. 45

p. 497Paul rebukes believers for taking lawsuits before unbelievers; the saints should judge matters among themselves.read · scan

Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44

p. 389–390Settle with an adversary before the magistrate lest prison follow.read · scan

Luke, The Acts of the ApostlesVol. 44

p. 465–466Townclerk directs grievances to open courts, proconsuls and the regular assembly rather than riot.read · scan
p. 470–472Accusation of teaching against the law, with the captain seeking to ascertain what Paul had done.read · scan
p. 472–473Paul asks whether it is lawful to scourge an uncondemned Roman.read · scan
p. 473–474Paul charges the high priest with judging by the law yet ordering him struck contrary to it.read · scan
p. 475–476Accusation concerns Jewish law and profaning the temple; legal hearing procedure.read · scan
p. 477–478Paul denies sinning against Jewish law, temple or Caesar and appeals to Caesar's tribunal.read · scan
p. 478–479Roman legal custom and procedure for prisoners and appeal to the emperor.read · scan

Plutarch, ThemistoclesVol. 12

p. 32He made the statue from fines on those who illegally diverted public water for private use.read · scan

Plutarch, PericlesVol. 12

p. 66–67Dispute over a law forbidding the removal of the decree tablet; the ambassador's quip that it could be turned is unheeded.read · scan

Plutarch, AristidesVol. 12

p. 81He insisted the accused enemy enjoy the privilege of the law.read · scan

Plutarch, AlcibiadesVol. 12

p. 111–112The divorce law requires the wife to appear in person before the archon, giving the husband a chance to retain her.read · scan
p. 121–122The charge is brought as an eisangelia and the trial is postponed until after the war.read · scan
p. 124–126He is recalled to stand trial, with instructions to use no violence and the formal information against him.read · scan

Plutarch, DemosthenesVol. 12

p. 213The people cannot remit his fine by law, so they evade it by paying him fifty talents for the altar sacrifice.read · scan

Plutarch, CiceroVol. 12

p. 242Cicero is impeached for executing citizens without trial, which Caesar declares not legal.read · scan

Plutarch, AntonyVol. 12

p. 366Caesar seizes and reads Antony's will publicly; many think it unjust to judge a man for what is to follow his death.read · scan

Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9

p. 188Court of the Hundred scene where Regulus tries to trap Pliny with a catch-question about a banished man.read · scan
p. 188Pliny answers it is illegal to question the character of a convicted person, silencing Regulus in court.read · scan
p. 204The sense of the laws allows the orator ample time and recommends fullness of circumstance.read · scan
p. 226His speech argues that the crime falls within the law on public extortions and other similar laws, unlike Greek comparison of conflicting laws.read · scan
p. 278Ancestors granted many hours and adjournments to cases; modern haste contrasted.read · scan
p. 294The Julian law prescribes punishment for adultery; the emperor acts under military discipline.read · scan
p. 359–360Legal procedure requires Alexandrian citizenship before Roman for an Egyptian.read · scan
p. 374–375Legal inability of slaves to serve and the effect of the military oath.read · scan
p. 375Decrees against them were never reversed, and unauthorized release is improbable.read · scan
p. 376–377Sentences may be undone only by proper authority, not without it.read · scan
p. 387Conflicting sentences and edicts of predecessors, appeals within two years, and the emperor's orders on restoring exiles.read · scan
p. 388–389Case of Archippus: an old sentence for forgery against imperial letters and edicts, and whether the privilege of exemption holds.read · scan
p. 395–396Jurisdiction over freedom claims depends on the senate's decree covering only proconsular provinces; Trajan asks for it.read · scan
p. 399Court procedure: adjournments, written allegations, accounts demanded before a public work is assigned to the city.read · scan
p. 404Pliny doubts the proper legal procedure regarding Christians and sends Roman citizens to Rome.read · scan
p. 407–408Anonymous informations are rejected as dangerous precedent and foreign to the spirit of the age.read · scan

Chapters from the KoranVol. 45

p. 1005Prescribes procedure for witnessing a dying man's will with two equitable witnesses sworn by God, with substitutes if suspected.read · scan

The Song of RolandVol. 49

p. 187–189Formal legal proceedings: charge, plea, judges deliberating, trial by combat with pledges.read · scan
p. 189–190Council deliberates, and Thierry offers to maintain his adjudgment by combat; the king sets pledges and formalities.read · scan

Jean Froissart, The Chronicles of FroissartVol. 35

p. 17–18Edward hangs twenty men for burning an abbey, enforcing his order on pain of death not to violate churches.read · scan
p. 58Rival claims are settled by right of arms and deferred to the king of England.read · scan

Traditional BalladsVol. 40

p. 168–170The sheriff accuses the knight of harboring the king's enemies against law and right; the knight defers to the king's will.read · scan

Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36

p. 142Strict rules and penalties keep the convicts separate and controlled.read · scan

William Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas MoreVol. 36

p. 103Chancery procedure of subpoenas and arbitration.read · scan
p. 114More argues his imprisonment cannot be justified by their own law, since the amplified oath went beyond the statute.read · scan
p. 114Statutes are made to confirm the amplified oath and to void More's conveyance of lands, though the second conveyance escapes.read · scan
p. 125More argues the statute requires malice, so words spoken in familiar hypothetical talk cannot be an offence.read · scan

Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31

p. 121–123He insists papal proceedings must respect law and right, contrasting the Vicar of Christ with lawless petty princes.read · scan
p. 151–152The host warns that drawing swords could get one hanged if the Duke learned of it.read · scan
p. 161The safe-conduct restrains the Bargello from arresting Cellini; he holds it up as legal protection.read · scan
p. 163Custom requires those pardoned at the feast to give themselves up to prison; the Pope grants Cellini a dispensation by formal document.read · scan
p. 200–201On friends' advice he uses the written agreement and the auditor's court instead of violence.read · scan
p. 203–204Cellini argues the authority of law was suspended during the sack and that self-defence is justified by the sanctity of law.read · scan
p. 302Lawsuit practices and a judge in the great hall of Paris are depicted.read · scan
p. 305–306The accusers plan a false charge under French law to extort ducats.read · scan
p. 308He invokes the law that both parties in such a crime are burned, turning the accusation on his accusers.read · scan
p. 312–314Notaries and witnesses draw up a valid contract to bind the coerced marriage.read · scan
p. 322–323Notaries explain the possession is a court formality, not disobedience to the King, so ousting the intruder is not wrongful.read · scan
p. 421A notary's contract omits the vendor's promised terms while detailing boundaries.read · scan
p. 431Lawsuits drag on; a lease contract is drawn up with promised renewal and affected by duties to the revenue.read · scan

William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35

p. 257–258Archdeacons called in law the bishops' eyes; church courts sit monthly.read · scan
p. 262A statute and special court enforce payment of first fruits with penalties.read · scan
p. 301Parish collections and statute enforced by justices provide for the true poor, while vagabonds are whipped.read · scan
p. 305Statute prescribes procedure, trial, witnesses and licences for vagabonds; they are called despisers of all laws.read · scan
p. 305–307Sharp laws govern bearwards in Germany, and those who aid rogues are fined by justices.read · scan
p. 363An old law makes gaolers guilty of felony if they torment prisoners to reveal accomplices.read · scan
p. 364Lists statutes by regnal year defining felony under English kings and the crimes they cover.read · scan
p. 364–366Traces changes in adultery law from Canute's grant to the clergy, and the fines for manslaughter by rank.read · scan
p. 366Halifax law beheads felons for thefts worth thirteen-pence-halfpenny.read · scan
p. 367Benefit of clergy is a peculiarly English law of uncertain origin.read · scan
p. 369Old law requires constables to raise hue and cry and pursue offenders parish to parish.read · scan

Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14

p. 63Sancho claims the friar's habits as lawful spoils by the law of arms.read · scan
p. 73Sancho fears the Holy Brotherhood will pursue them for the fight.read · scan
p. 73Quixote claims knights-errant are never brought before judges for homicides; Sancho fears the Holy Brotherhood.read · scan
p. 111He cites the laws of knighthood as forbidding combat with non-knights.read · scan
p. 168Sancho remarks that the laws of knighthood are strict; spoils are lawful only in fair war.read · scan
p. 184The freed convicts fear pursuit by the Holy Brotherhood and refuse to go together on the roads.read · scan
p. 184The fugitives fear the Holy Brotherhood more than any obligation to their liberator.read · scan
p. 187–188Flight from the Holy Brotherhood drives both Sancho and the escaped convict into the mountains.read · scan
p. 444Quixote cites the laws of arms forbidding a knight to draw sword against non-knights.read · scan
p. 455A trooper matches a warrant's description to Quixote to arrest him for freeing galley slaves, invoking the Holy Brotherhood's authority.read · scan
p. 456–457Quixote claims knights-errant are exempt from all tribunals: their sword is the law, valour the bench, wills the statutes.read · scan

Edward Haies, Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to NewfoundlandVol. 33

p. 268–269Gilbert's patent grants territory of 200 leagues but expires unless possession is taken within six years.read · scan

William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46

p. 95The combat wager was sealed by compact ratified by law and heraldry, forfeiting Fortinbras's lands.read · scan
p. 190–191Crowner's quest law is parodied to decide if she drowned herself wittinglyread · scan

Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's HolidayVol. 47

p. 522–523Hodge claims the law is on their side: he that sows in another man's ground forfeits his harvest.read · scan

Ben Jonson, The AlchemistVol. 47

p. 543Face threatens Subtle with the statute of sorcery and the noose.read · scan
p. 658–661Lovewit will return goods only by order of law, demanding certificate or court writ.read · scan

Nathaniel Ward, The Body of LibertiesVol. 43

p. 66–67No one's life, goods or person may be touched except by express law of the General Court or God's word.read · scan
p. 67–68Limits on public burdens and punishments, and rules on wills and estates, all grounded in acts of the General Court.read · scan
p. 68–69Rules on bail, conveyances, fraudulent transfers and the court's own discipline.read · scan
p. 69–70Procedural rules for suits, summons, fines for vexatious claims, interest limits and no reversal for mere technical errors.read · scan
p. 70–71Procedural rules for pleadings, trial by bench or jury, challenges to jurors, and replevin of goods.read · scan
p. 71–72Rules on arrest for debt, appeal from lower courts, recording of testimony and stay of execution.read · scan
p. 72–73Rules on criminal procedure: speedy hearing, no double jeopardy, two or three witnesses for death, invalid contracts under duress.read · scan
p. 73–74Rules on age of discretion, court procedure, coroner's juries and relations between civil and church authority.read · scan
p. 84–85Declares the liberties to be treated as laws, enforceable, read at each General Court and interpreted only by it.read · scan

Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies A-BleedingVol. 47

p. 727–731Dion notes that the law does not permit death for this fault.read · scan

Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old DebtsVol. 47

p. 931–933Wellborn disputes the deed and demands land restored or a suit; the bond is shown blank, its writing erased.read · scan
p. 933Overreach cites a statute against forgery-like juggling and expects a notary's oath to stand for witnesses.read · scan

John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described and the Government of the Massachusetts Vindicated from That AspersionVol. 43

p. 89–90No one's life, goods, or person touched except by express law; absent law, by the word of God.read · scan

First Charter of VirginiaVol. 43

p. 49Legal charter conferring licence and territorial rights.read · scan
p. 50Charter grants lands and rights and forbids others to settle without council's consent.read · scan
p. 57Legal form of land tenure, by letters-patent, socage and not in capite.read · scan
p. 58Letters patent stand as sufficient assurance despite any statute or proclamation to the contrary.read · scan

John Milton, Samson AgonistesVol. 4

p. 415Harapha says Samson is due by law to capital punishment for breaking league.read · scan

Molière, Tartuffe, or The HypocriteVol. 26

p. 287–289Bailiff Loyal serves a writ and contract of dispossession, invoking the court's decree and legal form against Orgon's household.read · scan
p. 289–291Bailiff offers procedural indulgence in executing the eviction order; Elmire hopes the contract may be invalidated.read · scan

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15

p. 99–100Judge cites persecuting decrees of Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar and Darius against contrary religion to instruct the jury that Faithful has broken such laws.read · scan
p. 198–199The ruffians cry murder to put themselves under laws protecting women.read · scan

The Fundamental Orders of ConnecticutVol. 43

p. 60–61Magistrates administer justice by the established laws, else by the word of God.read · scan
p. 64–65Oaths bind magistrates to see lawful, wholesome laws duly executed.read · scan

Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1

p. 111–112Patent offered by the governor and taken out by others in London; Franklin never contested.read · scan
p. 117He drafts the bill's conditional clause incorporating contributors.read · scan
p. 161Dispute over the Assembly's act taxing proprietary estates, argued before the King in Council and allowed to pass.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 161Invalidating earlier kings would annul statute law protecting liberties such as the petition of right and habeas corpus.read · scan
p. 166Acts declared rights and limited the crown; no pardon under the great seal could bar impeachment.read · scan
p. 213–214Regicide and sacrilege are reduced to common homicide, and jurisprudence corrupted.read · scan
p. 248–249The Assembly recognized the clergy's legal right to incur debt, thereby acknowledging the property rights it violated.read · scan

Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Noble LordVol. 24

p. 384–385Claims the spirit of old English law, trial by peers.read · scan

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19

p. 129–132Martha wants legal proof of death; two witnesses' oaths held valid before a judge.read · scan

Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6

p. 54–56Poet is informed on to the poacher-court after shooting a hen partridge and pays the fine.read · scan
p. 126–128The Highlander scorns Lowland laws and is banished, caught and hanged.read · scan

Declaration of RightsVol. 43

p. 147–148Trial by jury is declared an inherent and invaluable right.read · scan

Articles of ConfederationVol. 43

p. 162Provides courts for piracies and felonies on the high seas and appeals in captures.read · scan

Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21

p. 61The convent's privileges of sanctuary conflict with justice and its ecclesiastical rights.read · scan
p. 89–90Marriage is valid if declared before curate and two witnesses, even without his consent; the curate cannot undo it.read · scan
p. 90–91Surprise marriages are legally valid though unapproved; Agnese says others make the law and the poor cannot understand it all.read · scan
p. 93–95Marriage is valid if spouses declare themselves so before the curate and two witnesses.read · scan
p. 149Church rule requires examination by the nuns' vicar and a year's wait to verify a novice's free choice.read · scan
p. 150A rule requires a month outside the convent before the examination on her chosen life.read · scan
p. 289Bureaucratic Latin-laden order to seize Renzo, search his house and gather evidence; officials force locks zealously.read · scan
p. 304Clergy were exempt from lay jurisdiction, so legal force was useless against Cristoforo; only removal by his superior could work.read · scan
p. 422–423Abbondio pleads that the couple tried to marry him by surprise, contrary to the laws.read · scan
p. 518–519Petitioners cite unrepealed laws, customs and a decree of Charles V that the king's exchequer bears plague costs.read · scan

Constitution of the United StatesVol. 43

p. 194–195Criminal procedure and common-law jury rights protected against government.read · scan

Percy Bysshe Shelley, The CenciVol. 18

p. 331Legate Savella acts under papal commission to make Cenci answer grave charges.read · scan
p. 332–334Savella investigates the murder, searching the castle and questioning the family, while the captured assassin is held.read · scan
p. 334Savella arrests all in the Pope's name; Beatrice charges the ministers of human law with neglect.read · scan

George Long, M. Aurelius AntoninusVol. 2

p. 311–312Rescripts of Trajan, Hadrian and Antoninus Pius on prosecuting Christians: no anonymous informations, false accusers punished, persistence punishable.read · scan

John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25

p. 181Question was whether dependencies would be governed by law or military license via courts-martial.read · scan
p. 181–183Lord Chief Justice's charge settled the law in favour of liberty; the Committee used every legal avenue.read · scan
p. 184Extradition Act allows a hearing before an English court to prove offence political.read · scan

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, PoemsVol. 42

p. 1306–1307The notary drafts the marriage contract and the blacksmith cries that might is the right of the strongest.read · scan
p. 1309The notary draws the contract, and the great seal of the law is set upon it.read · scan

Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29

p. 78–79Rosas enforces his knife law on himself, even before the Governor, and then on the steward who released him.read · scan

Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23

p. 40Navigation law or custom makes the captain answerable for a dead sailor's effects and requires an auction.read · scan
p. 81Courts and jurisprudence are unknown; capital cases are decided by the governor.read · scan
p. 90–92Coast has neither law nor gospel, no consul, so sailors are at their captain's mercy.read · scan
p. 329–330Customs of merchant vessels act as common-law, and disputes over them reach courts unintelligible to outsiders.read · scan
p. 359Captain is liable under common law and statute for cruelty to seamen; laws suffice, difficulty lies in their administration.read · scan
p. 359–360Sailors most need legal protection on long voyages where only the crew can testify.read · scan
p. 362–363Laws require stores and penalize captains who deprive crews of food or sleep; going further is unsafe.read · scan
p. 363–364Statute and common law unanimously permit moderate corporal chastisement, holding captain answerable for excess.read · scan

Treaty with Spain (1819)Vol. 43

p. 274–275Treaty confirms or annuls earlier articles and provides for delivery of deserting sailors by legal process.read · scan

Treaty with Great Britain (1842)Vol. 43

p. 287–288Extradition follows judicial procedure, warrants and sworn complaint under the laws of the place where the fugitive is found.read · scan

Treaty with MexicoVol. 43

p. 299–300Officers must denounce fraudulent abuse of the exemption, punished by confiscation after sentence of a competent tribunal.read · scan

Fugitive Slave ActVol. 43

p. 306–307Empowers Circuit and Territorial Court commissioners to arrest, take depositions and bail, and increases their number for prompt enforcement.read · scan
p. 307Prescribes duties and penalties of marshals and commissioners in executing warrants for recovering fugitives; commands enforcement machinery.read · scan
p. 308Sets summary legal procedure, proof by affidavit and certificate for reclaiming fugitives.read · scan
p. 308–309Certificates conclusive against any court process; establishes offences and jurisdiction.read · scan
p. 310Fixes fees for marshals, clerks and commissioners in fugitive cases.read · scan
p. 311Procedures on evidence, records and certificates authorizing seizure; officers' duty to overcome rescue by force.read · scan

Treaty with Spain (1898)Vol. 43

p. 446Rights to authenticated copies of records, contracts and wills are secured in accordance with law.read · scan
p. 447–448Rules on jurisdiction and pending civil and criminal judicial proceedings after transfer of sovereignty.read · scan

Convention Between the United States and the Republic of PanamaVol. 43

p. 457–458Provision for pursuit and mutual delivery of persons charged with crimes across the zone boundary.read · scan

9d.Legal reform of the English law

Thomas Carlyle, Inaugural Address at EdinburghVol. 25

p. 369Barebones Parliament abolished the Court of Chancery for undecided cases and delays; lawyers resisted.read · scan
p. 370Chancery reconstituted on sixty propositions by lawyers who valued laws yet knew something more sacred.read · scan

John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25

p. 44Mill studies Roman law, Blackstone and Bentham's legislation; classifies offences scientifically.read · scan
p. 44Bentham's Legislation treats the substance and ethics of law, beyond the formal logic of jurisprudence.read · scan
p. 58He wrote commenting on defects of the law and misdoings of magistrates and courts.read · scan
p. 58Black and Bentham attacked the superstition that English law, judicature and magistracy were models of excellence, exposing their absurdities and vices.read · scan
p. 64Peel entered the Benthamic path of law reform.read · scan
p. 72–74Mill edits Bentham's treatise on judicial evidence, exposing English law.read · scan
p. 74Mill studied the English law of evidence and criticized objectionable rules while editing Bentham's treatise.read · scan
p. 75Bentham's Rationale of Judicial Evidence exposes the vices and defects of English law and procedure.read · scan
p. 163Numerous assemblies are unfit to make laws but proper to get good laws made by a commission.read · scan
p. 167Austin's Lectures on Jurisprudence gave Mill occasion to express thoughts from his Benthamite study.read · scan

9e.Constitutional law and the supremacy of federal law

See also: Government 7c · Constitution 6c · Taxation 2b · Reasoning 5c

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9

p. 130–131Debate over whether a curiatian law is required for a governor to retain or hand over a province.read · scan

Plutarch, CiceroVol. 12

p. 246Cicero argues Clodius's acts are invalid because his tribuneship was obtained against law; Cato objects that annulling so many decrees is irregular and violent.read · scan

Plutarch, CaesarVol. 12

p. 272–273Conflict between the law requiring triumph-seekers to stay outside the city and candidates to appear in person; Cato uses it to delay.read · scan
p. 291–292With the province's limits the boundaries of the laws were transgressed.read · scan
p. 293–294Caesar tells Metellus arms and laws each have their time; war allows no free talking, and he forces the treasury.read · scan

Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9

p. 319Pliny seeks his friend's opinion on senate procedure and political law.read · scan
p. 319Senate procedure for taking votes is treated as a legal question.read · scan
p. 319He appeals to the senate's form of words for dividing the house.read · scan
p. 319He reads the division formula as compelling those of different opinions to opposite sides.read · scan
p. 384–385Trajan rules that Roman sacred law does not apply to foreign city ground.read · scan
p. 410–411Trajan says cities' claims to creditor priority follow their own laws; edicts of proconsuls are weak without imperial confirmation.read · scan
p. 412The Pompeian law is silent on entrance fees and on foreign senators; Trajan advises following each city's laws and avoiding retrospective operation.read · scan

Sir Henry Vane, A Healing QuestionVol. 43

p. 131Council orders bind only so far as consonant with the settled laws of the Commonwealth.read · scan

The Instrument of GovernmentVol. 43

p. 112Bills become laws even without the Protector's consent provided they do not contradict the Instrument.read · scan
p. 116–117Parliamentary acts on land sales and public securities are upheld, and the Protector must see law and justice equally administered.read · scan

Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24

p. 183Commons is confined by laws, usages and rules, while the Assembly has no fundamental law to restrain it.read · scan

John Marshall, Opinion of Chief Justice Marshall in the Case of McCulloch vs. the State of MarylandVol. 43

p. 208–209A state law and a federal act conflict; the Supreme Court alone must decide the validity of each.read · scan
p. 209–210A measure adopted after debate and experience cannot be called plain usurpation; practice of government bears on doubtful questions.read · scan
p. 211–212Supremacy of state and general government laws must be settled when they conflict.read · scan
p. 212Constitution and federal laws made in pursuance of it are declared the supreme law of the land over state laws.read · scan
p. 214Legislative power is a sovereign power, so barring corporations as an act of sovereignty would undermine other laws.read · scan
p. 215–216A legislature with legislative powers needs no express power to legislate; describing bill procedure already presumes lawmaking.read · scan
p. 217Congress's power to make laws is at issue, construed as not limited to the most direct means.read · scan
p. 219Enforcing law by punishing infractions, such as mail robbery and perjury, is incidental and conducive though not indispensable.read · scan
p. 222Corporations derive from English legal principles and are a usual means, needing no special enumeration.read · scan
p. 223–224Laws not prohibited and calculated to effect entrusted objects are the supreme law of the land; unconstitutional acts are not law.read · scan

Constitution of the United StatesVol. 43

p. 182–183Convicted officers remain subject to indictment and punishment according to law; Congress may regulate elections.read · scan
p. 183Describes how a bill becomes law through passage, presidential signature or veto and override.read · scan
p. 184–185Congress legislates, defines offences against the law of nations, and sets rules for the forces.read · scan
p. 185–186Prohibits ex post facto laws; requires that money be drawn only by appropriations made by law.read · scan
p. 189–190Judicial power over cases in law and equity; the President must faithfully execute the laws.read · scan
p. 190–191Full faith and credit to other states' acts and proceedings; extradition of fugitives.read · scan
p. 191–194Constitution and treaties declared the supreme law of the land binding state judges.read · scan
p. 197–198Congress may enforce articles by legislation; liquor prohibited by law.read · scan

Treaty with France (1803)Vol. 43

p. 253–254Treaty and conventions to be ratified in due form and jointly, making them binding.read · scan

Andrew Johnson, Proclamation Declaring the Insurrection at an EndVol. 43

p. 426–427Laws obstructed by combinations too powerful for ordinary judicial proceedings; acts of Congress authorize proclamations.read · scan
p. 430–431Military orders provide for enforcing acts of Congress and securing obedience to the Constitution and laws.read · scan

Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln's First Inaugural AddressVol. 43

p. 314–315The intention of the lawgiver is the law; a law should enforce the oath.read · scan

Abraham Lincoln, Proclamation of AmnestyVol. 43

p. 416–417Congressional acts on forfeiture and pardon, and judicial exposition of the pardoning power.read · scan

Treaty with Great Britain (1842)Vol. 43

p. 287Squadrons enforce the laws and obligations of each country against the slave-trade.read · scan

Treaty with MexicoVol. 43

p. 296–297United States pledges to pass and vigilantly enforce laws securing the stipulations.read · scan
p. 301Goods moved to unoccupied places become subject to Mexican duty laws as in peacetime.read · scan

Annexation of the Hawaiian IslandsVol. 43

p. 438–439Existing Hawaiian municipal legislation remains in force unless inconsistent with the Constitution or treaties.read · scan

Convention Between the United States and the Republic of PanamaVol. 43

p. 452–453US rights declared superior to conflicting private rights of way.read · scan
p. 458–459Treaty obligations govern; Panama must cancel or modify conflicting existing treaties so no conflict with the convention exists.read · scan