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events, we observe many cases of naturally existing repetition, order, strict uniformity; and, by interposing our force, we are able to induce uniformities that otherwise would not exist. These uniformities may be severally reduced to the form of a general conception, and the expression of this conception is a law. Thus a law is an expression of a strict uniformity, either of one observed to exist in nature, or of one required to be produced by will. These considerations enable us to make a formal statement of the essential meaning of this comprehensive and important term in its most general definition, thus: A law is a designation of a constant order of facts determined by the constitution of the things.

Let it be remarked that the things are those from whose constant order the law arises, and to which it applies; also that the constitution of a thing is an assemblage of inherent properties which, being constant causes, determine both the facts and their constant order or uniformity; also that, since a plurality of individual things have similar constitutions, the uniformity is intellectively viewed as general, and is expressed in a general formula or law. Hence, furthermore, since a law is a form of intellective apprehension, a generality in itself and in its expression, it is entirely subjective, existing only in mind as a thought. Law has no real existence in the external world. Uniformities there are, but these are individual though similar facts. Their mental reduction, by virtue of their observed similarity, to a generality is a law, which being expressed in language attains thereby only a quasi-objectivity. The very common notion that law prevails objectively and reigns throughout the universe, is a rhetorical fiction. Laws are only mental representations, conceptions, intelligent interpretations of recognizable uniformities. Hence a law, formulated and expressed, is merely and properly a designation, or that which marks out and

makes known in general terms a real uniformity, either observed or required.1

§ 18. Laws are primarily of two kinds, formal and material. Formal laws designate or express merely the forms of mental conception, and thus are intellectual abstractions discharged of all content. Such are the principles of mathematics and of logic. Material law has content; it designates order in phenomena.

Material law is likewise of two kinds, natural and moral. Natural law is a generalization of facts of coexistence, or of events of orderly succession, in inanimate things, and also in animate beings apart from their free will. It designates an established uniformity which has been found to exist in nature. Moral law is a mandate addressed to persons. It implies a possible alternative; and the required order, determined by the constitution of its subjects, is sanctioned and enforced by penalty.

Natural law is simply indicative; moral law imperative.

1 See in Elements of Inductive Logic the chapter on "Natural Law," §§ 90-100. Montesquieu defines thus: "Laws in their most extended signification are the necessary relations arising from the nature of things.” L'Esprit des Lois, bk. i, ch. 1, opening sentence. It has been strikingly said: "A law is a human translation of the divine procedure." Perhaps it would be more permissible to say: A law is an interpretation of cosmic order. Hooker, in his Ecclesiastical Polity, defines law in its universal meaning. Also we have: "A law is a rule or method according to which phenomena or actions follow each other.”—BLACK, Dictionary of Law, ad verb. But: "Law, in its most general and comprehensive sense, signifies a rule of action. . . prescribed by some superior, and which the inferior is bound to obey."-BLACKSTONE, Commentaries, Int., § 2. Thus jurists usually limit the meaning to what we term moral law; as, "A law, properly so called, is a command which obliges a person or persons."-AUSTIN, as quoted by Black. Again: "A law, in the literal and proper sense of the word, may be defined as a rule laid down for the guidance of an intelligent being by an intelligent being having power over him."-AUSTIN, Jurisprudence, § 2. Again: "Law in its most comprehensive sense is a rule of action for intelligent beings, and in its practical and more limited sense for mẹn.”— MINOR, Institutes, Int. § 2, p. 22. See infra, § 47, notes,

The one is a uniformity established, having no alternative; the other is a uniformity enjoined, having an alternative. The basis of natural law is causation; the basis of moral law is obligation. In the one the facts come before the law; in the other the facts come after the law. The one generalizes real facts that actually are; the other designates ideal facts that ought to be; the former inductively, the latter deductively.

We conceive accordingly of the kingdom of ends, the macrocosm, as divided into two realms, the corporeal and the spiritual. Body, which is ever strictly subject to causation, is the substantive content of the former; and hence its sphere is characterized by necessity, and is the realm of natural law. Mind, whose essence is self-determination, is the substantive content of the latter; and hence its sphere is characterized by freedom, and is the realm of moral law. These two spheres, the realm of physical facts and the realm of moral worths, intersect in the microcosm man, who, belonging at once to both spheres, is thus the connecting link, the bond of the universe.1

Moral law, with which alone we are concerned in this treatise, is based upon a single essential principle, which

1 We venture, for the sake of greater clearness, a diagrammatic representation of the Kingdom of Ends distinguishing its two Realms:

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Many moralists and jurists distinguish Divine Law, or the revealed will of the Deity, and Natural Law, or the constitutional order of human nature, and Civil Law, or the enactments of the State. See infra, § 47, note. We include all these under the generic term Moral Law, to which is opposed Natural or Physical Law, in accord with more general usage.

takes an imperative form, and in this form is recognized as an all-comprehending mandate, as the moral law. It has many subordinate branches or specific applications which apply to every phase of human conduct. Without offering a complete or strictly logical distribution, it will be sufficient just now to point out its most important subordinates. The Decalogue is so widely comprehensive that it is often spoken of as itself the moral law. All municipal laws, both common and statute, of organized states, derive their authority solely from the supreme authority of the moral law. Military law in all of its details, has no other ground. The laws of all kinds of formally organized societies, such as churches, colleges, clubs, bands, etc., are likewise specializations of the moral law. All the tacit conventions and unwritten laws of social intercourse, including the internal regulations of the family, and even the petty forms of politeness and simple kindness, owe whatever claim they have on us to the one law, the moral law, whence they are derived. This catholicity of the law throughout human affairs, applying to all human voluntary activity, to all conduct public and private of single persons or of communities, renders the inquiry, on which we are now about to enter, one of supreme importance, and therefore of profoundest interest.

ETHICS

FIRST PART-OBLIGATION

INTRODUCTION

§ 19. In looking on the world around and above us, we discover, amid an infinite variety of ceaseless changes, a certain uniformity established, which, reduced to comprehensive expression, is termed the law of gravity. In looking on the world within us, we discover, amid its incessant changes, a certain uniformity enjoined, which, reduced to comprehensive expression, is termed the law of morality. The law of gravity represents something real, a fixed corporeal order, with which we have to do in every waking moment of active life, and to which we must constantly adjust the movements of our bodies. The law of morality also represents something equally real, a required spiritual order, with which we constantly have to do, a universal mandate overruling all relations between man and man, to which must be adjusted every voluntary action and proposed line of conduct. The reality of moral law as an inflexible factor in human life, involved in the essential constitution of human nature, is a scientific truth, as undeniable as the law of gravitation, and one whose importance surpasses comparison.

Science has been well defined to be a complement of cognitions, having, in point of form, the character of logical perfection; in point of matter, the character of real truth.1 1 Hamilton, Logic, § 80.

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