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

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rule men act, though it be ah~olutely DeC£ssary that
tbey act by some constant and known rule or other;
and as for these reasons certain positive cOllstitutions
are wont to be establi:·.hed in every society, which,
when establi~hed, become as obligatory as the original
principles of natural j~!stice them:;dve~; so, likewise,
it is bet,,·,=,en indep~"lid(~nt communities. 1'0-
gether with tho:,e maxir.1S of univer~al equity which
are common to states and to individuals, and by
which the rights alld ccnduct ot the one a~ \vell as
the other ought to be adjusted, when they fun within
the scope and ~pplication of ~.uch nlaxim,; there
exists aIm amongst sc,vercigns a system of artificial jurisprudence~
under the name of the law of nations. In
this code are found the rules which deternline the
right to vacant or newly discovered countries; those
which relate to the protection of fugiriv€':;, the privileges
of ambassadors, the condition and duties of
neut~ality, the immunities of neutral ship~J ports,
and coasts, the distance fronl shere to \vhicIl tllese
immunities extend., the distinctioIl between free and
contralJand goods, and a v~riety of subjects of the
same kind.
Concerning \vhich examples, £tlld indeed
the principal part of what is called the jus gen·
tium, it Inay be obser,'cd, that the rules derive their
morai force, by which I mean the regard that ought
to be paid to them by the consciences of sovereigns,
not from their infernal reasonableness or Ju:,tice, [{)r
many of them are perfectly arbitrary; nor yet from
the authority by \vhich they were established.- for the
greater part have grown insensibly into U';:age, with.
out any public compact, forn1al acl