ligation rests upon me, but the law will not help him: there can be no doubt as to his right and my obligation in a moral sense, but inasmuch as they cannot be enforced they are reciprocally imperfect.
We here see the distinction between Jurispru- Ethics. dence and Ethics. Law compels the performance of our duties by public authority, while the science of Ethics only teaches us our duty and the reasons of it.
Jurisprudentia est divinarum atque humana- Jurispru rum rerum notitia, justi atque injusti scientia'. I. UniverJurisprudence is either universal or particular; sal; the former relates to the science of law in general, ar and investigates those principles which are common to all systems of law alike. Particular jurisprudence refers to the laws of particular states, which have been drawn from the rules and principles of universal jurisprudence, and adopted by those states.
Law is a rule of action prescribed by some Law. superior, and which the inferior is compelled to obey. This is the definition of law in its most extensive signification. The solar system will furnish us with an example; or, to test the accuracy of this definition more minutely, place two weights connected together by a cord over a pulley, one of
1 D. I. I. 10. 2.
BOOK which is heavier than the other, it would be impossible to balance them; the heavier in its descent would continue to send up the smaller to the end of time. Make them equal, and they will remain at rest. There is no longer any superior, and the rule of action is gone.
Law in its more confined sense denotes the Municipal rules of human action and conduct. Municipal law is a rule of civil conduct, prescribed by the supreme power in the state, commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong.
All law is natural or instituted. The law of Nature, the law of Nations, and the Civil law were distinguished from each other by the Roman lawyers.
Jus is defined by Celsus as Ars boni et æqui1. Jus Natu- It is divided into-1. Jus Naturale. 2. Jus Gentium. 3. Jus Civile. "Jus Naturale est quod natura omnia animalia docuit 2;" e.g. self-preservation, the Jus Gen procreation of the species, &c. Jus Gentium is defined by Justinian as "quod naturalis ratio inter omnes homines constituit." Puffendorf defines it as ipsum jus naturale integrarum gentium negotiis et causis adplicatum. By modern writers it is reduced to the simple term jus inter gentes, that law which governs the intercourse of civilized nations with each other.
Jus Civile est quod quisque populus sibi constituit, et cujusque civitatis proprium ests. It is the law by which each independent state is go
Jus Singulare, called also Privilegium, was where any privilege was granted to a person or class of persons, contrary to the Jus commune. The will of a soldier, and the Senatusconsultum Velleianum, may be taken as examples.
Jus Feciale. The Feciales were a body of
priests said to have been established by Numa, CHAP. whose business it was to declare war, and to ratify peace with neighbouring nations. The rules and regulations established by them were called the Jus Feciale1.
Lex is defined by Papinian as commune præ- Lex. ceptum, virorum prudentium consultum: delictorum quæ sponte vel ignorantia contrahuntur coercitio: communis reipublicæ sponsi2. Laws are classed under four heads by Modestinus, Legis virtus hæc est: imperare, vetare, permittere, punire3. Lex differs from Jus as the species differs from the genus.
Lex is what was enacted by the whole body of the Roman people, assembled at the Comitia Curiata or Centuriata, at the recommendation of one of the greater magistrates.
The oldest legislative assembly of the Romans Comitia was the Comitia Curiata, divided into three tribes, the Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres, which were subdivided into thirty curiæ consisting of patrician families. Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome, introduced a material change U.c. 176. It became necessary to recognise the plebs as part of the populus, which was not the case in the Comitia Curiata. He established the census1, and arranged the citizens when ass