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Crappy Old Quote of the Day | NO. 42

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Considerations on the Nature of Laws

John Trenchard & Thomas Gordon

Published in the London Journal, Saturday, August 26, 1721

“SIR, The mischiefs that are daily done, and the evils that are daily suffered in the world, are sad proofs, how much human malice exceeds human wisdom. Law only provides against the evils which it knows or foresees; but when laws fail, we must have recourse to reason and nature, which are the only guides in the making of laws. Stirpem juris a natura repertam, says Cicero [“The foundation of the law was uncovered from nature itself.”];  there never would have been any law against any crime, if crimes might have been safely committed, against which there was no law: For every law supposes some evil, and can only punish or restrain the evils which already exist.

“But as positive laws, let them be ever so full and perspicuous, can never entirely prevent the arts of crafty men to evade them, or the power of great ones to violate them; hence new laws are daily making, and new occasions for more are daily arising: So that the utmost that wisdom, virtue, and law can do, is to lessen or qualify, but never totally abolish, vice and enormity. Law is therefore a sign of the corruption of man; and many laws are signs of the corruption of a state.“

Cato’s Letters, Vol. II, NO. 42 [my emphasis]

5 Responses

  1. I stole the quote and reposted it…it happened to be entirely relevant to another loooong ongoing discussion!

    Question is…is there a way to avoid the above dilemma? Because that’s basically the question that needs to be answered in the other discussion.

    1. Probably. But it takes people of a pretty high moral character to pull it off. So the question is how does a populous of not so high characters rise a generation of high moral character?

      In the past, the ticket would be education– you know, read Aristotle and the good stuff. Pass along the traditions. All that crap. Ostracize the immoral. Not so much government, but societal punishment.

      John and I were talking the other day about the road not taken– how you travel down the wrong one and at some point, realize this, look back, realize you cannot retrace your steps, and try to figure out how to get back on the right road. That’s were we are– not all we, though.

      Is there hope? Who knows.

      1. https://www.bookwormroom.com/2020/06/26/the-broken-window-theory-and-modern-democrat-governance/#disqus_thread

        It’s a thread that will continue, I think. Neowayland will keep going as long as anyone responds . He never yields a point – but it seems to me that if he feels that he can’t counter something, he changes his approach and keeps going.

        I’m not sure how long I’ll keep up. You and he have a valid point – we’re in a point in history where the future is a problem. I think we’ve reached the point of a society that has too many laws that Cato mentions. Given our system of government, how do we change that … given the other half … that man tends to be corrupt.

        So…what is the solution? Personally, I don’t see one.

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