The Man Versus the State [46]
by war; quickly prove to any who compares them that, apart from all their special differences, societies have general resemblances in their modes of origin and development. They present traits of structure showing that social organization has laws which over-ride individual wills; and laws the disregard of which must be fraught with disaster. And then, in the third place, there is that mass of guiding information yielded by the records of legislation in our own country and in other countries, which still more obviously demands attention. Here and elsewhere, attempts of multitudinous kinds, made by kings and statesmen, have failed to do the good intended and have worked unexpected evils. Century after century new measures like the old ones, and other measures akin in principle, have again disappointed hopes and again brought disaster. And yet it is thought neither by electors nor by those they elect, that there is any need for systematic study of that law-making which in bygone ages went on working the ill-being of the people when it tried to achieve their well-being. Surely there can be no fitness for legislative functions without the wide knowledge of those legislative experiences which the past has bequeathed. Reverting, then, to the analogy drawn at the outset, we must say that the legislator is morally blameless or morally blameworthy, according as he has or has not acquainted himself with these several classes of facts. A physician who, after years of study, has gained a competent knowledge of physiology, pathology and therapeutics, is not held criminally responsible if a man dies under his treatment: he has prepared himself as well as he can, and has acted to the best of his judgment. Similarly the legislator whose measures produce evil instead of good, notwithstanding the extensive and methodic inquiries which helped him to decide, cannot be held to have committed more than an error of reasoning. Contrariwise, the legislator who is wholly or in great part uninformed concerning these masses of facts which he must examine before his opinion on a proposed law can be of any value, and who nevertheless helps to pass that law, can no more be absolved if misery and mortality result, than the journeyman druggist can be absolved when death is caused by the medicine he ignorantly prescribes.
NOTES:
1. Political Institution, sections 437, 573.
2. Ibid., sections 471-3.
3. Lanfrey. See also Study of Sociology, p. 42, and Appendix.
4. Constitutional History of England, ii. p. 617.
5. Lecky, Rationalism, ii. 293-4.
6. De Tocqueville, The State of Society in France before the Revolution, p. 421.
7. Young's Travels, i. 128-9.
8. Craik's History of British Commerce, i. 134.
9. Ibid., 136-7.
10. Ibid., 137.
11. Mensch, iii, p. 225.
12. The Nineteenth Century, February, 1883.
13. "The Statistics of Legislation" By F.H. Jansen, Esq., F.L.S., Vice-President ofthe Incorporated Law Society.
14. Fire Surveys; or, a Summary of the Principles to be observed in Estimating the Risk of Buildings.
15. See Times, October 6, 1874, where other instances are given.
16. The State in its Relation to Trade, by Sir Thomas Farrer, p. 147.
17. Ibid., p. 149.
18. Hansard, vol. clvi., p. 718, and vol. clvii., p. 4464.
19. Letter of an Ediburgh M.D. in Times of 17th January, 1876, verifying other testimonies; one of which I had previously cited concerning Windsor, where, as in Edinburgh, there was absolutely no typhoid in the undrained parts, while it was very fatal in the drained parts. Study in Sociology, chap. i., notes.
20. I say this partly from personal knowledge; having now before me memoranada made 25 years ago, concerning such results produced under my own observation. Verifying facts have recently been given by Sir Richard Cross in the Nineteenth Century for January, 1884, p. 155.
21. Nicholl's History of English Poor Law, ii. p. 252.
22. See Times, March 31, 1863.
23. In these paragraphs are contained just a few additional examples. Numbers which I have before given
NOTES:
1. Political Institution, sections 437, 573.
2. Ibid., sections 471-3.
3. Lanfrey. See also Study of Sociology, p. 42, and Appendix.
4. Constitutional History of England, ii. p. 617.
5. Lecky, Rationalism, ii. 293-4.
6. De Tocqueville, The State of Society in France before the Revolution, p. 421.
7. Young's Travels, i. 128-9.
8. Craik's History of British Commerce, i. 134.
9. Ibid., 136-7.
10. Ibid., 137.
11. Mensch, iii, p. 225.
12. The Nineteenth Century, February, 1883.
13. "The Statistics of Legislation" By F.H. Jansen, Esq., F.L.S., Vice-President ofthe Incorporated Law Society.
14. Fire Surveys; or, a Summary of the Principles to be observed in Estimating the Risk of Buildings.
15. See Times, October 6, 1874, where other instances are given.
16. The State in its Relation to Trade, by Sir Thomas Farrer, p. 147.
17. Ibid., p. 149.
18. Hansard, vol. clvi., p. 718, and vol. clvii., p. 4464.
19. Letter of an Ediburgh M.D. in Times of 17th January, 1876, verifying other testimonies; one of which I had previously cited concerning Windsor, where, as in Edinburgh, there was absolutely no typhoid in the undrained parts, while it was very fatal in the drained parts. Study in Sociology, chap. i., notes.
20. I say this partly from personal knowledge; having now before me memoranada made 25 years ago, concerning such results produced under my own observation. Verifying facts have recently been given by Sir Richard Cross in the Nineteenth Century for January, 1884, p. 155.
21. Nicholl's History of English Poor Law, ii. p. 252.
22. See Times, March 31, 1863.
23. In these paragraphs are contained just a few additional examples. Numbers which I have before given