PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

·"reai.~r inconn~ni~n~v than that of erecting the prac.
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tice of tl1c ),1-. 1 ; jIltO a ~eparate protession: \\·hich this
r('a~on, \\-e alio\\-, Il1akes n(;.ces~ary ; fur if we: attribute
~:o much authority to precerlent.~, it is expedient
that thc\' be kno\r;n in e';en' cau~!:, both to the ad~'o-
~ J
~:atC$ .md to the judge: this YJlowledge cannot be
general, since if i~ the fi-uit oftt"ntimes of laborious
n~scarch, or dem;{nds a memory ston:d with long­
£oIIected erudirion.
To a mind revolving upon the subject of human
.!urisprudenct'~ ther·~ frequently occurs this qu~stion ;
\\·h)~, since the fllaxilns of llatural ju~tice are few and
c\·ideJlt, do there arise so nl~llly doubts and contro­
\~ersies in their application ? O~, in other wOl·d~, how
conIes it to pa~s, that, a!rhougll the prillciples of the
law of nature be silnpie, and for the most p:lrt sufficiently
obvious, there s}10uld exist ne\?"errheless, in
every system of municipal laws, and in the actual adtninbtration
of relative justice, numerous uncertain­
I
ties and acknowledged difficulty? \Vhence, it· may
be asked, Sf! much reonl for litif!ation, aIld ~o many
~~ J
subsi:;ting dispute~, if the ruies of humanl duty be
neither obscure nor dubiou~ ? If a sy~tem of morality,
contailling both tfle prCcfpts of rC\1elalion, and rhe
deduction~ of- reaSt)n - Jl1aV t e cO:1Jprised within the
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compass of Of!::: rll0df~rate \901u!ne; and the moralist
be able, as i1e pretend~, to describe tht~ rights alld ob ..
ligations of mankind, in all the different relations
they Inay hold to one another, '\\:I1Llt ne~d of those
codtS of po~itive and. particular institutions, of those
tomes of statutes alld reports, \\/hicIl require the enlploym.~nt
of a long life eVen to peruse? Alld trlis
question is immediately connected with the argument
which has bee:! discussed in the preceding paragraph ;
for unless there be found some greater uncertainty in
the law of nature, or what may be called natural equi.
t y ~ w hen it com~~ to be applied to real cases and to
actual adj':1dication, than what appears in the rules
and principles of the scieIlce, as delivered in the wri ..
~in.'js of those who treat of the subject, it were better