The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-02-05
tPubll,hoa by r.quatl
ETHICS OF LAWS.
ByJ. NJ /, cuRRY, D.D., lid.

StutSs' 11hb ouu luVIhl9 dIu luscpUThuI
united. They react andintroact. It Is i'm
possible to dlsunite the fundamental prir
ciples Of Jurisprudence, tse basis OF laws
from religion or morality. Such writer
as Ulpian and Domat concur practical
in laying down as primary laws, homes
ritue, the maintenance Of personal mora
rectitudc; neminem laettere, the observanc
due to other men; a@m cuique lribure,
recognition Of the rights vested IN Others
There are alike categories OF morals an,
Of civil law. They harmonic with tn
divine precept ito do Justly, love mercy
and walk hnmbly with thy God"
Law, in Its last analysis, Is tho vii
Of the one only Lawgiver, the OK
preston OF His absolute sovereignty. A,
the subject matter Of jurisprudence, law i
the body Of rules, declared and eniorcet
by political authority, regulating the
rights aud duties Of men in society," i
may be viewed in two aspects. Extrin
sically, 1t Is the command OF one havinG
the right to rule, or 1t Is q system OF rule
creating or recognizing rights and i'm
posing duties. 1ntrinstcally, 1t refers &
trhal Is prescribed and what obligation.
are created. Law, approaching from God
implies Its moral rectitude, and. as govern
ing man. conformity to rational and socia
nature, and consistency with highest we'll
being Human law should be the reAec
ton Of the divine law, Of those eterna
principles OF right, In tho disobedi
ence OF which no State can be
prosperous or safe. Burke has
said: There are only two founda.
tons OF law, and they arc both Of then
conditions without which nothing car
give it any torce,-eQuity and utility
Equity grows out OF the great rule Of
equality, grounded upon our common na
ture, and which PhilO, with propriety and
beauty, calls the mother Of Justice. al.
human laws, properly speaking, are only
declaratory; they may alter the mode and
application, but have no power over the
substance OF original Justice" Divine and
human laws, so far as pertain to these fun
damentals, can never be in disharnony
without injury TO those subject to the hu'
man laws. The reign OF the Republic al
Athens illustrates the connection betwixl
laws and morals. Athenian liberty de,
clined rapidly in an age which had no
fixed standard Of right and wrong. 1t wai
a very short step, says q historian, from
the suspicion Of Protagoras that there
were no gods, to the assertion Of Critias,
that there is no sanction for laWG.
OF the value OF laws as operating upon
human conduct. there can hardly BIZ M
oyerestimate. They permeate society, in.
terpeneIraIe manners and literature and
thought; furnish standard for living
and rule fer right. They may be said "a
interpret the intelligence and patriotism
and conscience Of people. They are
the sureSt index OF the motives, the senti,
ments, the honor, the morality Of a nation
A philosophic statesman said! Scarcely
any object Of curiosity more rational than
the origin, the progress. the various revolu.
tons Of human laws" Historical juris.
prudence is history Of . nations justice
By tatute-books, ponderous codes may bl
regarded with aversion; in their lick.
planned barbarous forms may be viewed
as the cunning instruments OK lawyers
but in them you can read not only q no.
tons general history, its civilization, but
the vices, virtues, sense OF honor, the
moral qualities OF q community. The
Pandects are the mirror from which arc
reflected, in ,unmistakable yeriSimilitude,
the features otthe people Of the times.
Law is not merely restraint; it is direG.
tive on men placed in the relations OF so,
ciety; and these relations create obliRa'
tons which are to be regulated by law OF
right, and thus human sOcietyisto be train.
ed and disciplined for higher things, fol
the completest development OF manhood
and womanhood. Not simply the Mosaic
or ceremonial law was schoolmaster, hui
all true laws have pedig0gic character to
lead upward to nobler and irOpr things
Justice and right, organized into society
enacted into laws, inspire an intelligent
loyalty, and are continually creative O.
higher types OF humanity.
II law be, In its purity and integrity, an
emanation from the Divine, we must
recognize it, in It's essence and sanctions
as based not on brute power, authority
OF force, but on eternal verities on i'm
mutable moral distinctions, growing out o
the nature OF things-not on shifting
grounds OF expediency, but on unehange
able right and wrong. 4 pagan says
"Right reason is the truthful law, no
established by this or that mortal, corrup
tible upon parchment, or soul!ess upo.
lifeless pillars, but stamped incorruptiblt
by the immortal nature upon the immorta
intellect" What to-day and here is man
duty to God and is essential for the pre-
servation and purity OF the family ant
social relations, what Is honeRe riWTe mus
have been SO from tho beginning OF hu
man nature, and will be always and every
where found To be so, while man Is, by TIL
laws OF his being, a social creature. I'm
ouestionably, there are things indifIeren
In themselves. which per e have no mora
character, and become obligatory or un
lawful, because enjoined or forbidden b.
competent authority; but what is good ant
evil, Just and unjust, honest and dishon
est, right and wrong, are such, not arbi
trarily, and accidentally, and conven
tionally, but necessarily and eternally
Theft, lying, perjury, dishonesty, ar
wrong here, perpetrated by individuals o
States, have always been wrong, will al
ways be 80, are no more nor less wron
here than they would DO in Saturn o
Neptune. II moral obligations can be re
leased by authority, be suspended by gov
ernments, then what to-day Is moral, be
cause commanded, may tomorrow becom
Immoral because forbidden. 0mnipotenc
itself, much less finite human power, can
not reverse these categorical moral impel
atiyes. Changed relations Of space an
time do not elface nor alter moral diffel
ences, there Is q law, according to whic
right and wrong, truth and falsehood, ar
set over against each other irreversibly.
Human laws should conform TO pure:
morals. They need not seek directly
cultivate the moral nature, to transcen
their legitimate sphere, and invade til
spiritual; but they must not be in Nntagt
Inism with the divine. As the legislatC
cannotinfringe with immunity the laws
Cruyitauon, so neither can he run countt
10 the axtoms OF right, the uuchangeab
principles OF virtue. All civil interferont
With religious rights and duties Is usu
patton and a tyranny, hut politics and r
iigion are, nevertheless, inseparahly allie
! II Is impossible to divorce tho leadlr
principles OF jurisprudence and Of polil
cal economy from morals, Directly or !
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