贝壳电子书 > 英文原著电子书 > bentham >

第9章

bentham-第9章

小说: bentham 字数: 每页4000字

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!



ne; was done by a struggle of centuries between the old barbarism and the new civilization; between the feudal aristocracy of conquerors; holding fast to the rude system they had established; and the conquered effecting their emancipation。 The last was the growing power; but was never strong enough to break its bonds; though ever and anon some weak point gave way。 Hence the law came to be like the costume of a full…grown man who had never put off the clothes made for him when he first went to school。 Band after band had burst; and; as the rent widened; then; without removing anything except what might drop off of itself; the hole was darned; or patches of fresh law were brought from the nearest shop and stuck on。 Hence all ages of English history have given one another rendezvous in English law; their several products may be seen all together; not interfused; but heaped one upon another; as many different ages of the earth may be read in some perpendicular section of its surface  the deposits of each successive period not substituted but superimposed on those of the preceding。 And in the world of law no less than in the physical world; every commotion and conflict of the elements has left its mark behind in some break or irregularity of the strata: every struggle which ever rent the bosom of society is apparent in the disjointed condition of the part of the field of law which covers the spot: nay; the very traps and pitfalls which one contending party set for another are still standing; and the teeth not of hyenas only; but of foxes and all cunning animals; are imprinted on the curious remains found in these antediluvian caves。     In the English law; as in the Roman before it; the adaptations of barbarous laws to the growth of civilized society were made chiefly by stealth。 They were generally made by the courts of justice; who could not help reading the new wants of mankind in the cases between man and man which came before them; but who; having no authority to make new laws for those new wants; were obliged to do the work covertly; and evade the jealousy and opposition of an ignorant; prejudiced; and for the most part brutal and tyrannical legislature。 Some of the most necessary of these improvements; such as the giving force of law to trusts; and the breaking up of entails; were effected in actual opposition to the strongly…declared will of Parliament; whose clumsy hands; no…match for the astuteness of judges; could not; after repeated trials; manage to make any law which the judges could not find a trick for rendering inoperative。 The whole history of the contest about trusts may still be read in the words of a conveyance; as could the contest about entails; till the abolition of fine and recovery by a bill of the present Attorney…General; but dearly did the client pay for the cabinet of historical curiosities which he was obliged to purchase every time that he made a settlement of his estate。 The result of this mode of improving social institutions was; that whatever new things were done had to be done in consistency with old forms and names; and the laws were improved with much the same effect as if; in the improvement of agriculture; the plough could only have been introduced by making it look like a spade; or as if; when the primeval practice of ploughing by the horse's tail gave way to the innovation of harness; the tail; for form's sake; had still remained attached to the plough。     When the conflicts were over; and the mixed mass settled down into something like a fixed state; and that state a very profitable and therefore a very agreeable one to lawyers; they; following the natural tendency of the human mind; began to theorize upon it; and; in obedience to necessity; had to digest it and give it a systematic form。 It was from this thing of shreds and patches; in which the only part that approached to order or system was the early barbarous part; already more than half superseded; that English lawyers had to construct; by induction and abstraction; their philosophy of law; and without the logical habits and general intellectual cultivation which the lawyers of the Roman empire brought to a similar task。 Bentham found the philosophy of law what English practising lawyers had made it; a jumble; in which real and personal property; law and equity; felony; praemunire; misprision and misdemeanour; words without a vestige of meaning when detached from the history of English institutions  mere tide…marks to point out the line which the sea and the shore; in their secular struggles; had adjusted as their mutual boundary  all passed for distinctions inherent in the nature of things; in which every absurdity; every lucrative abuse; had a reason found for it  a reason which only now and then even pretended to be drawn from expediency。 most commonly a technical reason; one of mere form; derived from the old barbarous system。 While the theory of the law was in this state; to describe what the practice of it was would require the pen of a Swift; or of Bentham himself。 The whole progress of a suit at law seemed like a series of contrivances for lawyers' profit; in which the suitors were regarded as the prey; and if the poor were not the helpless victims of every Sir Giles Overreach who could pay the price; they might thank opinion and manners for it; not the law。     It may be fancied by some people that Bentham did an easy thing in merely calling all this absurd; and proving it to be so。 But he began the contest a young man; and he had grown old before he had any followers。 History will one day refuse to give credit to the intensity of the superstition which; till very lately; protected this mischievous mess from examination or doubt  passed off the charming representations of Blackstone for a just estimate of the English law; and proclaimed the shame of human reason to be the perfection of it。 Glory to Bentham that he has dealt to this superstition its deathblow  that he has been the Hercules of this hydra; the St。 George of this pestilent dragon! The honour is all his  nothing but his peculiar qualities could have done it。 There were wanted his indefatigable perseverance; his firm self…reliance; needing no support from other men's opinion; his intensely practical turn of mind; his synthetical habits  above all; his peculiar method。 Metaphysicians; armed with vague generalities; had often tried their hands at the subject; and left it no more advanced than they found it。 Law is a matter of business; means and ends are the things to be considered in it; not abstractions: vagueness was not to be met by vagueness; but by definiteness and precision: details were not to be encountered with generalities; but with details。 Nor could any progress be made; on such a subject; by merely showing that existing things were bad; it was necessary also to show how they might be made better。 No great man whom we read of was qualified to do this thing except Bentham。 He has done it; once and for ever。     Into the particulars of what Bentham has done we cannot enter。 many hundred pages would be required to give a tolerable abstract of it。 To sum up our estimate under a few heads。 First: he has expelled mysticism from the philosophy of law; and set the example of viewing laws in a practical light; as means to certain definite and precise ends。 Secondly。 he has cleared up the confusion and vagueness attaching to the idea of law in general; to the idea of a body of laws; and the various general ideas therein involved。 Thirdly: he demonstrated the necessity and practicability of codification; or the conversion of all law into a written and systematically arranged Code: not like the code Napoleon; a code without a single definition; requiring a constant reference to anterior precedent for the meaning of its technical terms; but one containing within itself all that is necessary for its own interpretation; together with a perpetual provision for its own emendation and improvement。 He has shown of what parts such a code would consist; the relation of those parts to one another; and by his distinctions and classifications has done very much towards showing what should be; or might be; its nomenclature and arrangement。 What he has left undone; he had made it comp

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0

你可能喜欢的