Omaha daily bee., 1911-05-06
FORCE OF UNwRITTEN LAWS
Tradition and Custom Invest Them
with Power of the
Statutes.


There is a class Of unwrtten law which
does not and cannot become written law.
because Il approaches so near the danger
line that man dare not recognize II to the
extent Of publishing II and declaring it
as part OF the positive law
II is the unwritten law Of the sea that
captain must go down with his ship
Men dare not write Il into the contract
and nations dare not incorporate IL In their
navy or marine regulations, yet the ty-
rants Of the sea know the law and be-
lieve that to obey II betters their service.
and there are few instances of its being
disregarded.
II is the unwritten law of the army and
navy that an officer shall not seek cover,
or at least shall not show apprehension
Of danger to his person. in time OF battle
and in the presence OF enlisted men or
common sailors In the Franco-P russan
war nearly 1900 officers of the German
army were killed and the great majority
Of them gave up their lives because they
believed in the law of conduct
4 In obedience to this law Farragut bound
himself to the mast, Lee rode to the head
of his charging column at the bloody
angle, and Lawton walked coolly in front
of the line and was shot in the presence
Of his men.
The law OF the right of revolution has
been much talked about and much written
about. Every intelligent citizen believes
that he has the right under certain condi-
tions to suppose the established govern
ment of his own land and Join in an effort
TO establish another In It's place. Just
prior TO ana during the civil war there
was much discussion in this country by
learned men on either side of the right of
revolution and the higher power and the
greater law"
The law justifylng one person in the
killing of another has required the serious
consideration of every country. Every
criminal code provides certain punishments
for homicide, and many of them graduate
the punishment with minute particularly,
according to the circumstances of the kill
ing so that any one of six crimes may be
involved In single tragedy. Such codes
also attempt to define what killing is justi-
fable and what killing is excusable and
with their Interpretation by the courts at
tempt to describe the only conditions under
which one human being can kill another
and not be guilty OF crime.
The Hebrew code almost stands alone
in its recognition of mans desire TO kill
and his right 70 nave that desire and that
climax of all satisfacuons which comes
to him who under great provocatlon slays
another. It is not at all strange that in
this branch there should be an extended
code Of unwritten, as well as written law,
unwritten now and always to be unwritten
for the reason that the recognition given
by its embodiment in the statutes would be
taken as a license by dishonest men and
would result in harm rather than good.
1t is an unwritten law among the officers
of the army that II a subordinate officer
kills a superior officer because that officer
has publicly degraded him by striking
him or by any other action equally HUI
initiating then the court-martial will not
convict. During the civil war at Louis
Vile, KY, General Nelson said to General
Davis:
How many men have your"
General Davis replied, About" giving
an approximate number.
Nelson said, You an army officer and
say 'aboutp Why don't you know how
many men you haveG' And with that he
struck Davis in the face with his glove.
Davis shot and killed him. and the court
martial acquitted Davis.-Case and Com
ment