Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1880-02-25
The Mission OF Law.


Laws are rules adopted for the
better management Of humanity
Their object is to prevent wrons
actions and settle conflicting opin
ions, according to the rule agreed
upon. Violations of agreed upor
rules, or laws, are punished b.
fines, Imprisonment, or death. II
merely inflict punishment is no
the real object of law-its mission
being to prevent abuses.
Old customs have handed dowr
the feeling shout the inhexibility
impartiality, and justice of law
but this notion is being dispelled,
for the people know that law i:
often unjust and partial, favoring
one class more than another
Wealth controls il TO q consider
able extent. Ancient laws may
be defined as rules by which one
particular class-royalty and nobil'
ity-may be benefited at the ex'
pense of another class-the labor
ers. For instance, the land and
game laws of Great Britain. II j:
for the advantage and benefit Of
the first class to impress on the
minds Of the second class, a great
reverence and respect for the Law
The first class made the laws and
administers it.
Law is a human production, and
like all human creations, has its
faults and imperfections. 1t is
liable to be impregDated with the
prejudices Of the man who COM
piled it 1t represents his pecu-
liar idea as TO how a certain trait
Of humanity should be governed.
II this fsw should meet the ap-
provA Of the people, it is respect
ed and obeyed by all law fearing
citizens, but, il it does not, it is
despised, and is either dead rule,
that no one dares to put in oper-
alton, or else it causes disturbances
and instructions and produces
much misery. To be effective and
to accomplish its object, law
must have the moral support Of
. large majority Of the people. 1t
must represent their views and
opinions. Itthen becomes mighty
and irresistible power, because be-
hind it are millions of men ready
to enforce it.
A few legislators can, and some
times do, force law on the people
that is obnoxious to large numbers,
and which favors few individuals
at the expense of the people. For
instance, the salary grab law, the
monopoly laws, the District Of Co.
lumbia laws, the. shipping laws,
the paper protective tariff law, and
many others. Nearly all protec-
tive tariff laws benefit the manu-
facturer at the expense Of the
farmer.
A human law is not Invaluable,
aud is, even with the best of in
tentions, often the means Of op-
pressing and doing great injustice.
A law is much easier made than
repealed, unless it happens to
abridge the rights Of people Of
great wealth or large corporations.
To arouse the people generally, in
regard to an unjust law, takes con-
.
siderable time, owing partly to the
fact that humanity, as a rule, clings
tenaciously to- old customs and
ideas, and also to the reason that
it takes some time for q bad law to
Cypress sufficient people, so that a
vigorous opposition will be got up.
A man does not care to reform
abuses as long as the evils thereof
affiict some one else. When the
people generally are aroused to the
necessity Of repeating an injurious
Isw, their demand is al once com
Piled with, for legislators and par
lies know from past history that IL
q extremely dangerous to disre-
zard the demands Of a united peo-
pie. England disregsrded the de-
nands Of the American colonists,