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country. They would certainly
maintain it obstinately, if reckless chance which has distributed human laws
had encountered even one which was universal; but the farce is that the
caprice of men has so many vagaries that there is no such law.
Theft, incest, infanticide, parricide, have all had a place among virtuous
actions. Can anything be more ridiculous than that a man should have the
right to kill me because he lives on the other side of the water, and
because his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have none with him?
Doubtless there are natural laws; but good reason once corrupted has
corrupted all. Nihil amplius nostrum est; quod nostrum dicimus, artis est.40
Ex senatus--consultis et plebiscitis crimina exercentur.[41] Ut olim vitiis,
sic nunc legibus laboramus.[42]
The result of this confusion is that one affirms the essence of justice to
be the authority of the legislator; another, the interest of the sovereign;
another, present custom, and this is the most sure. Nothing, according to
reason alone, is just itself; all changes with time. Custom creates the
whole of equity, for the simple reason that it is accepted. It is the
mystical foundation of its authority; whoever carrie
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