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NOTORIETY- Advantages of the Want of.
PROMULG. Want of. in what instances beneficial.
1. One advantage attending this of the want of Notoriety (the great and regular indeed must that Political evil
be which has no advantages to help compensate it)has been the checking putting a check to the evil influence
of the maxim of Double construction. The multitude of devices, more [scrupulous] &
humane, than wise and provident, to which it has given birth, not being to be thought of
from the simple here inspection of the Statutes Laws on which they have been practised, & not spred
abroad among the people by the reason of the uncompassable Bulk of the whole body into
which they are aggregated and confounded, have not propagated the intelligence<add>hopeexpectation of impunity to the
degree to which they would have done, had they as part of the law in common with the rest of the Law have
become [made] familiar to the eyes of men.
II
2. Another is the non-execution of obsolete or Laws which combating no
real mischiefs, & being contrary repugnant to the & sentiments of the people, have no one particular interested
to find them out & call them forth into execution — Of this head are the Laws
against Dissenters & to a certain degree against Papists. If circulated in the hands
of every body to the degree that wholesome and operative Laws ought to be, they would stand
a chance of being offences then they are engines of mischief in the hands of some harpy or fanatic whose ignorance is not
keeps him out out of mischief as it is.
III
3. Author of the Commentaries [+] [1.344] who in the few instance in which he can bring himself to acknowledge any defects in our jurisprudence generally points to a wrong cause or to a wrong remedy
speaking of the office powers of Constables observes
that the extent of their powers is such, as that consider what sort manner of men are
for the most part invested with, it may perhaps be very well that they are
generally kept in ignorance of them.
Notoriety of the definition against
an obscure offence in early childhood
a inexpedient particular instance
In general wheresoever whatsoever a law is regulations are improper to be executed inexpedient, it is an advantage in one view that they should not
be known: but as the number of such as are expedient [ones] greatly preponderated at least might
so be made [so] to do, the expediency advantages of a general universal notoriety of the whole system taken together gravely preponderates
over the disadvantages.
What is to be inferred from thence
but those powers are to be corrected
but that those invested with the
body kept in ignorance of their
having them? No - but that those
powers (speaking of the whole system
together) ought to be limited & modified
- or (speaking of particular ones
which may be found too great) ought
to be repeated & taken away.
Either those particular powers if exercised will do more
good than harm or they will do more
harm than good: in the first case they
ought to be preserved & known; in the latter
they ought not to be concealed but to be applied
Further than this, the acknowledged on inexpediency of a regulation indicates the propriety of not the keeping it
concealed but the abrogation of it or amendment, because no general regulation can be that made to answer
any purpose — but that it must be known to many, and of those many, being promises
to some who will make an ill use of it.
Lastly the way for an inexpedient regulation to be abrogated, is to be known to be so now:
to be known to be so, it must be known to exist.
But if it a method can be shewn that whereby power shall be known just in those incidents & at those times when the exercise of the
expedient, & not in those where it would be inexpedient, a reason would be given coextensive with applicable
regulations giving the particular powers in question, why for their being they should be kept in such state orderly
state of equivocal notoriety. [Why the publicty of them should be kept the equivocal state proposed]
Identifier: | JB/070/123/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 70.
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promulg. want of in what instances beneficial |
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notoriety advantages of the want of |
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