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COMPOSIT. Comm. Law.
[so will at length dispense us from the injunctions
fruitless and never-ending tort, of enquiring at every
step, what those men thought, who knew
not what they thought themselves.
In Statute Law
there is the instrument, then on the words of it
there is the will [which they express] there is [he
whose will it is] the Legislator: There is the primary
will which calculates the offence there is
the secondary will which declares the punishment
All these are... they exist, they are
to be found, they are forthcoming...
Where is the Law? here it is — What
are the words of it? look and see When
was it made? in such a year — Who made it?
such and such a certain number of persons in he House of
Representatives forming the majority of the persons
there in & of <add>in the House of Peers that House — such and such a certain number of persons
forming the majority of the persons there in & of
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They hung that man for murder one day: they
hung this man the next: they hung another
man, the day after. Now this is precisely
what could have been done if there had been
a Law, that for Murder men should be hanged
comes another murderer, and says a Judge
this is a cruel desperate villain, I think I'll burn him
no, says another his Colleague<add> opposite You had better not
Why so? I never knew it done. Judge
Nokes, & Judge Stiles I remember them very
well, they never need to burn their men
always hung them—May be so — but am
not I a Judge as well as they — Certainly
but still you had better not; it will be thought
strange.
Now what one can't avoid seeing is that one
time or other there is a vast stride must have has
been taken from Liberty choice to obligation.
Such is when it rested
of that of
Comes another Murderer a few years afterwards
and the same thought comes into the heads of
LAW COMMON.
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that House — The King
They grasp at it — and it is vapour
The in Lycidas The flock... and are not fed.
Ask a Lawyer what is Common Law?
it's more than he can tell. But he is
certain that it is the perfection of reason.
For Lord Coke has told him so; and a thousand
compilers have repeated it after Lord
Coke & Blackstone the Author of the Commentaries has repeated it
after a thousand compilers.
He knows not [very well] what Common Law
is: however he knows what it is not: or
rather what is not it: which is always something.
"Whatever is not reason, is not
Law." And this he knows by the same means
"Is not reason"? What reason? What? this
man's reason or that man's reason, or
my reason? Oh no, nothing like it:
a particular sort of reason — a sort made
of on purpose — a legal reason.
The Orthodoxy of mistry-makers is all according
to reason: but it is a diverse reason.
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The Common Law of Common Lawyers is
according to reason: but it is a legal reason.
In short would you know precisely what
Common Law is? It is Common Law
— the Judge — he meets with no opportunity
or none that he regards — hanged burnt the man
shall be — It is decreed — Men are surprised
— alarmed — It is taken up by a
higher Tribunal — can comprehend not of the
have got footing — there are such a thing
known — The course of the Law has always
been for hanging — By the Common Law a
Murderers are to be hanged — they cannot be
punished in any other manner. I remember
very well says one, it was thought
of by a Judge.... but it was agreed
it could not be done.
Decisions
General customs
of decisions — civil
's Warranty
Customs in pais
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Identifier: | JB/063/050/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 63.
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063 |
law in general |
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050 |
composit. comm. law |
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jeremy bentham |
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