This page has been validated.
CHAPTER IV
THE ASSERTION OF ONE’S RIGHTS A DUTY
TO SOCIETY
TO SOCIETY
HUS far I have endeavored to establish the first of the principles laid down above, that the struggle for law is a duty of the person having rights, to himself. I now turn to the second; viz., that the assertion of one’s legal rights is a duty which he owes to society. To establish this principle, it is necessary that I should examine somewhat more closely the relation of law in the objective sense to law in the subjective sense of the term. In what does the relation consist? I state, I believe, the theory admitted in our days, accurately, when I say that it consists in this: that the former is the condition precedent of the latter. A concrete legal right exists only where the conditions are to be
69
