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Much has been said about a Digest of the
Law: that is short hints, I mean, have
been thrown out by many people perhaps about of the
utility perhaps of the necessity, but always
of the difficulty of such an enterprising a work. By most It seems to have been consider'd and thus it naturally must to those who content themselves with contemplating it at a distance,
by most as a sort of Utopian project,
very much to be wished for, very
pretty to talk of, pleasing to discourse of fo to which no one man
could be equal, for which innumerable plans
might be offer'd all equally specious: might be offer'd in
the choice of any one of which, there was no likelyhood
people ever should men should ever bring themselves to agree.
The opinion I have found reason to entertain
is very different. To me It seems to be there
can be but one plan — others may palliate
the evils which it would be the [mens] object
[by a digest] to remove: but one there is,
but is one, alone as it seems to him, there is that can at the same
time clear them away for the present
and bar them effectually from returning. out the returning of them for the future.
One set of measures there is to be taken.
What is it? we shall find it There is but one way to find it out
it is by considering the end; of such a work What is
that end? it is [the removal of certain
defects that are observable in the composition
and arrangement of the Laws] the
making the Laws to be known, to be possest. The removal of those obstacles which impede it under the present want of system.
What is it to be possess a Law. What of relation to the
sort of wasting of the mind over the such a subject is it
that we mean when we speak of a man's
possessing it? the idea term is familiar; but
the idea that belongs to it is complex. We must Ere we proceed
analyze it we must make a sort excursion.
The being possessed of a Law is one necessary
condition tho' not the only necessary
nor the self-sufficient condition to it's obeying it being obey'd The conditions
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Identifier: | JB/070/096/001"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 70. |
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070 |
of laws in general |
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096 |
compos. requisites to a law's being possessed |
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001 |
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1 |
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jeremy bentham |
[[watermarks::gr [crown motif] [britannia with shield motif]]] |
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23211 |
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