JB/028/081/004

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SECT. Interpretation. 12
Decisions confounded
by him
with Laws.

-temptTo return to our Author — "The answers
of the Emperor" (says he) "were termed his rescripts,
"and had in succeeding cases the force of perpetual
"Laws: tho' they ought to be carefully distinguished
"from those general constitutions ,which had
"only the nature of things for their guide."

He had better have said "had the force of decisions
after litis-contestation: serving like them foras a basis
for fictitious general Laws to be formed out offrom by abstraction.
For that is all the force they could have in perpetuity.: since
as LawsCommands, the force of them was spent upon the
particular parties , and the particular points of their conduct they were meant
to regulate.

Nature of things
an expression
without meaning.

As to "the nature of things" so glibly spoken of,
he must be more than a "rational civilian",
who can tell what sort of "constitutions" those
are of, that in contradistinction to others , have
that only for their guide. These I might say,
(tho' without saying any thing that is worth it,saying,)
had, I suppose, the nature of the case they were
pronounced upon , for their guide: but what sort of
a "guide " the nature of things" is to make for
"a constitution" , or what meaning the phrase , smooth
as it is, has here, is what I must confess myself
unable

---

NOTE continued.

of Court, and punished accordingly the parties
and their Attorneys. This however one cannot however help observing, as to the
punishing part of it, had much the air of an
ex-post-facto Law.

Identifier: | JB/028/081/004 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 28.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering	not numbered
Box	028	Main Headings	comment on the commentaries
Folio number	081	Info in main headings field	[[info_in_main_headings_field::sect. [ ] interpretation]]
Image	004	Titles	note / note to p. 10 / note continued
Category	text sheet	Number of Pages	4
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f9 / b10 / f11 / b12
Penner	jeremy bentham	Watermarks	[[watermarks::[gr with crown motif] propatria [britannia motif]]]
Marginals	jeremy bentham	Paper Producer
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year
Notes public		ID Number	9346
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