The Spirit of Laws (1758)/Book I
THE
SPIRIT
OF
LAWS.
BOOK I.
Of Laws in General.
CHAP. I.
Of the relation of Laws to different Beings.
Book I.
Chap. 1LAWS in their most general signification, are the necessary relations resulting from the nature of things. In this sense all beings have their laws, the Deity has[1] his laws, the material world its laws, the intelligences superior to man have their laws, the beasts their laws, man his laws.
Those who assert that a blind fatality produced the various effects we behold in this world, are guilty of a very great absurdity, for can any thing be more absurd than to pretend that a blind fatality could be productive of intelligent Beings?
Book I.
Chap. 1There is then a primitive reason, and laws are relations which subsist between it and different beings, and the relations of these beings among themselves.
God is related to the universe as creator and preserver; the laws by which he created all things, are those by which he preserves them. He acts according to these rules because he knows them; he knows them because he made them; and he made them because they are relative to his wisdom and power.
As we see that the world, though formed by the motion of matter, and void of understanding, subsists through so long a succession of ages, its motions must certainly be directed by invariable laws: and could we imagine another world, it must also have constant rules, or must inevitably perish.
Thus the creation, which seems an arbitrary act, suppose the laws as invariable as those of the fatality of the Atheists. It would be absurd to say, that the Creator might govern the world without those rules, since without them it could not subsist.
These rules are a fixt and invariable relation. In bodies moved the motion is received, increased, diminished, lost, according to the relations of the quantity of matter and velocity, each diversity is uniformity, each change is constancy.
Particular intelligent beings may have laws of their own making, but they have some likewise which they never made. Before there were intelligent beings, they were possible; they had therefore possible relations, and consequently possible laws. Before laws were made, there were relations of Book I.
Chap. 1possible justice. To say that there is nothing just or unjust but what is commanded or forbidden by positive laws, is the same as saying that before the describing of a circle all the radii were not equal.
We must therefore acknowledge relations of justice antecedent to the positive law by which they are established: as for instance, that if human societies existed, it would be right to conform to their laws; if there were intelligent beings that had received a benefit of another being, they ought to be grateful; if one intelligent being had created another intelligent being, the latter ought to continue in its original state of dependance; if one intelligent being injures another, it deserves a retaliation of the injury, and so on.
But the intelligent world is far from being so well governed as the physical. For though the former has also its laws which of their own nature are invariable, yet it does not conform to them so exactly as the physical world. This is because on the one hand particular intelligent beings are of a finite nature, and consequently liable to error; and on the other, their nature requires them to be free agents. Hence they do not steadily conform to their primitive laws; and even those of their own instituting they frequently infringe.
Whether brutes be governed by the general laws of motion, or by a particular movement, is what we cannot determine. Be that as it may, they have not a more intimate relation to God than the rest of the material world; and sensation is of no other use to them, than in the relation they have either to other particular beings, or to themselves.
Book I.
Chap. 1.By the allurement of pleasure they preserve the being of the individual, and by the same allurement they preserve their species. They have natural laws, because they are united by sensations, positive laws they have none, because they are not connected by knowledge. And yet they do not conform invariably to their natural laws; these are better observed by vegetables, that have neither intellectual nor sensitive faculties.
Brutes are deprived of the high advantages which we have, but they have some which we have not. They have not our hopes, but they are without our fears, they are subject like us to death, but without knowing it, even most of them are more attentive than we to self-preservation, and do not make so bad a use of their passions.
Man, as a physical being, is, like other bodies, governed by invariable laws. As an intelligent being, he incessantly transgresses the laws established by God, and changes those which he himself has established. He is left to his own direction, though he is a limited being, subject like all finite intelligences, to ignorance and error; even the imperfect knowledge he has, he loses as a sensible creature, and is hurried away by a thousand impetuous passions. Such a being might every instant forget his Creator; God has therefore reminded him of his duty by the laws of religion. Such a being is liable every moment to forget himself; philosophy has provided against this by the laws of morality. Formed to live in society, he might forget his fellow creatures; legislators have therefore by political and civil laws confined him to his duty.
Chap. 2.
CHAP. II.
Of the Laws of Nature.
ANtecedent to all these laws are those of nature, so called because they derive their force entirely from our frame and being. In order to have a perfect knowledge of these laws, we must consider man before the establishment of society: the laws received in such a state would be those of nature.
The law which by imprinting on our minds the idea of a Creator inclines us to him, is the first in importance, though not in order, of natural laws. Man in a state of nature would have the faculty of knowing, before he had any acquired knowledge. Plain it is that his first ideas would not be of a speculative nature; he would think of the preservation of his being, before he would investigate its original. Such a man would feel nothing in himself at first but impotency and weakness; his fears and apprehensions would be excessive; as appears from instances (were there any necessity of proving it) of savages found in forests[2], trembling at the motion of a leaf, and flying from every shadow.
In this state every man, instead of being sensible of his equality, would fancy himself inferior. There would therefore be no danger of their attacking one another; peace would be the first law of nature.
The natural impulse or desire which Hobbes attributes to mankind of subduing one another, is far Book I.
Chap. 2.from being well founded. The idea of empire and dominion is so complex, and depends on so many other notions, that it could never be the first that would occur to human understandings.
Hobbes enquires, For what reason do men go armed, and have locks and keys to fasten their doors, if they be not naturally in a state of war? But is it not obvious that he attributes to man before the establishment of society, what can happen but in consequence of this establishment, which furnishes them with motives for hostile attacks and self defence?
Next to a sense of his weakness man would soon find that of his wants. Hence another law of nature would prompt him to seek for nourishment.
Fear, I have observed, would incline men to shun one another; but the marks of this fear being reciprocal, would soon induce them to associate. Besides, this association would quickly follow from the very pleasure one animal feels at the approach of another of the same species. Again, the attraction arising from the difference of sexes would enhance this pleasure, and the natural inclination they have for each other, would form a third law.
Beside the sense or instinct which man has in common with brutes, he has the advantage of attaining to acquired knowledge; and thereby has a second tye wich brutes have not. Mankind have therefore a new motive of uniting; and a fourth law of nature arises from the desire of living in society.
CHAP. III.
Of positive Laws.
Book I.
Chap. 3.AS soon as mankind enter into a state of society, they lose the sense of their weakness, the equality ceases, and then commences the state of war.
Each particular society begins to feel its strength, whence arises a state of war betwixt different nations. The individuals likewise of each society become sensible of their strength; hence the principal advantages of this society they endeavour to convert to their own emolument, which constitutes between them a state of war.
These two different kinds of military states give rise to human laws. Considered as inhabitants of so great a planet which necessarily implies a variety of nations, they have laws relative to their mutual intercourse, which is what we call the law of nations. Considered as members of a society that must be properly supported, they have laws relative to the governors and the governed ; and this we call politic law. They have also another sort of laws relating to the mutual communication of citizens; by which is understood the civil law.
The law of nations is naturally founded on this principle, that different nations ought in time of peace to do one another all the good they can, and in time of war as little harm as possible, without prejudicing their real interests.
The object of war is victory; victory aims at conquest; conquest at preservation. From this and the preceding principle all those rules are derived which constitute the law of nations.
Book I.
Chap. 3.All countries have a law of nations, not excepting the Iroquois themselves, though they devour their prisoners: for they send and receive ambassadors, and understand the rights of war and peace. The mischief is that their law of nations is not founded on true principles.
Besides the law of nations relating to all societies, there is a politic law for each particularly considered. No society can subsist without a form of government. The conjunction of the particular forces of individuals, as Gravina well observes, constitutes what we call a political state.
The general force may be in the hands of a single person, or of many. Some think that nature having established paternal authority, the government of a single person was most conformable to nature. But the example of paternal authority proves nothing. For if the power of a father is relative to a single government, that of brothers after the death of a father, or that of cousin germans after the decease of brothers, are relative to a government of many. The political power necessarily comprehends the union of several families.
Better is it to say that the government most conformable to nature, is that whose particular disposition best agrees with the humour and disposition of the people in whole favour it is established.
The particular force of individuals cannot be united without a conjunction of all their wills. The conjunction of those wills, as Gravina again very justly observes, is what we call the civil state.
Law in general is human reason, inasmuch as it governs all the inhabitants of the earth, the political and civil laws of each nation ought to be only the Book I.
Chap. 3particular cases in which this applied.
They should be adapted in such a manner to the people for whom they are made, as to render it very unlikely for those of one nation to be proper for another.
They should be relative to the nature and principle of the actual, or intended government, whether they form it, as in the case of political laws, or whether they support it, as may be said of civil institutions.
They should be relative to the climate of each country, to the quality of the soil, to its situation and extent, to the manner of living of the natives, whether husbandmen, huntsmen, or shepherds: they should have a relation to the degree of liberty which the constitution will bear; to the religion of the inhabitants, to their inclinations, riches, number, commerce, manners, and customs. In sine, they have relations amongst themselves, as also to their origin, to the intent of the legislator, and to the order of things on which they are established , in all which different lights they ought to be considered.
This is what I have undertaken to perform in the following work. These relations I shall examine, since all these together form what I call the Spirit of laws.
I have not separated the political from the civil laws, for as I do not pretend to treat of laws, but of their spirit, and as this spirit consists in the various relations which the laws may have to different things, it is not so much my business to follow the natural order of laws, as that of these relations and things.
Book I.
Chap. 3.I shall first examine the relation which laws have to the nature and principle of each government; and as this principle has a strong influence on laws, I shall make it my business to understand it thoroughly: and if I can but once establish it, the laws will soon appear to flow from thence as from their source. I shall proceed afterwards to other more particular relations.