Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1911-05-18
UHlV!IRi77EN Laws
Man : IRE Not Place Them Upon
the Statute Books.
THE SHIP CAPTAINS CODE.
It peanenes That tho Skipper Shall Go
Down With His Vessel If She Be
Lost, rrd 1t Is Held Saered-Ths
E~... | ~, of ,ia A-,av and tuayv


There is class of unwrittcn law
which does not ard cannot become
written law. says Case and Comment,
be;.anse it approaches so near the dam
ger lii,c that man dare not recognize 1t
To tho extent Of publishing il and de-
OK rig i: as n r",, nf the positive law,
1t is tlc u.l. on law of the sea
that Il captain vi 30 down With his
ship. Men d !, ant write it into the
contract. a.d i,st,ionS dare not incor-
popatc it in .af navy OF marine regu
LAT ions. vet .'.r ;,rnnt% of tie SEA know
tie law ana believe that to obey it
bctters their service. and there are
few Instances of its being disregarded.
1t i. the unwrittcn law of the army
ard navy that an officer shall not seek
cover. or at least shall not show APP
rrrhcnSion of danger to his person in
time of battle and in the presence of
enlisted men or common sailors In
1lfe Franco prussian war nearly 1000
officers of the German army were
killed. and the great majority of them
gave up their lives because they be-
icvcd in this law of conduct.
In obedience to this law Farragut
bms.Ed himself to the mast. Lee rode
Mt Ike 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 lacrn much talked about and much
written about Every intelligent citi-
| goa believes that he has the right un-
|st:er certain conditions to oppose the es-
tablishcd government of his own land
and join In an effort to establish am
other in it's place. lust prior to and
during the war between the states
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 iiistifying one person in the
killing of another has required the
serious consideration of every country.
Every criminal code provides certain
of them graduate the punishment with
! minute pnrticulaiity. according to the
circumstances of the killing. so that
amy one of six crimes may be involved
in II single tragedy Such codes also
attempt to define what killing is i,lsti-
fable and what is cNcusub!e and with
their Interpretation by the courts at
tcmpts to describe the only conditions
under which orc human being can kill
another and Eot Ike guilty of crime.
The Hebrew code almost stands
alone in its recognition of m;sus desire
Ia kill and his RIGHT To has that de
size end that climax of all 81 factions
which como to him who W. II great
provoratiun Stays another. Ii i, not ut
all strange that IN this branch there
! should be an extended code of unwrit
| ten us written law. unwritten now and
alway, to be unwrtten for the reason
that the recognition given by its en-
bodilncnt in The statutes would be TAX
on as Il license by dishonest men and
would result in harm rather than good
| 1t is an unwlittcn law among the
officers of tile army that II n subordi-
nate officer kills n superior officer be-
cause that officer has publicly degraded
him by striking him or by other action
equally humi!ialtg then the court mar
tial will not convict During the war
between the states on a memorable oc
casion at Louisville, Ky General Mel
son said TO General Davis:
"IIow many men have you?"
General Davi; replied "About'-giv-
ing an approximate number.
Nelson said: You an army officer
and say about" Why don't you
know how many men you have"
And with that he struck Davis in the
face with his glove Davis shot and
killed h:a. and the court martial ac-
| quilted Davis.