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(18)
SECT. VI. Municipal Law.
In the He tells us, of Caligula the Roman Tyrant, who
"hung up" his Laws "in a small character" (but
who hung them up – remember this ye Legislators
and ye fabricators† † boarders up of unpublished judgments
– but he hung them up) and "upon
"high pillars the more effectually to ensnare
"the people. There is still a more unreasonable
"method" (continues he) "than this, when after
"an action so (indifferent in itself⊞ ⊞ (which if it be, it ought not to be so much as prohibited at all) is committed,
"the Legislator then for the first time
"declares it to have been a crime, and inflicts
"a punishment upon the person who has committed
"it. Here it is impossible that the
"party could foresee that an action innocent when
"it was done, should be afterwards converted to guilt
"by a subsequent Law; he had therefore no cause
"for giving to abstain from it; and all punishment
"for not abstaining must of consequence be cruel and
"unjust. All Laws therefore should be therefore
"made to commence in future, and be notified before
"their commencement; which is implied in the
"term "prescribed".
He takes this for an instance of a Law not notified:
and that is the reason of its appearing here. But in
this he is mistaken: for it is notified (that is may there
is noting in the nature of it to hinder it from being notified)
to those from by whom any thing is expected to be
done⊞ ⊞ or abstained from in consequence of it, and that's as much as can be said of any other Law.
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Identifier: | JB/028/062/004 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 28.
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sect. vi municipal law |
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jeremy bentham |
[[watermarks::[monogram] [lion with crown motif]]] |
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