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Message: 22nd Principle--People should be governed by law and not by the whims of men.
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22nd
Principle
A free people should be governed
Principle
A free people should be governed
by law and not by the whims of men.
-
To be governed by the whims of men is to be subject to
the ever-changing capriciousness of those in power. This is
ruler's law at its worst. In such a society nothing is
dependable. No rights are secure. Things established in the
present are in a constant state of flux. Nothing becomes fixed
and predictable for the future.
the ever-changing capriciousness of those in power. This is
ruler's law at its worst. In such a society nothing is
dependable. No rights are secure. Things established in the
present are in a constant state of flux. Nothing becomes fixed
and predictable for the future.
-
Law as a "Rule of Action"
Law as a "Rule of Action"
-
The American Founders and their Anglo-Saxon forebears
had an entirely different point of view. They defined law as a
"rule of action" which was intended to be as binding on the
ruler as it was upon the people. It was designed to give
society a stable frame of reference so the people could feel
secure in making plans for the future. As John Locke said:
"Freedom of men under government is to have a
standing rule to live by, common to everyone of that
society, and made by the legislative power erected in it."
(Second Essay Concerning Civil Government, p. 29, par.
The American Founders and their Anglo-Saxon forebears
had an entirely different point of view. They defined law as a
"rule of action" which was intended to be as binding on the
ruler as it was upon the people. It was designed to give
society a stable frame of reference so the people could feel
secure in making plans for the future. As John Locke said:
"Freedom of men under government is to have a
standing rule to live by, common to everyone of that
society, and made by the legislative power erected in it."
(Second Essay Concerning Civil Government, p. 29, par.
-
Under established law every person's rights and duties
are defined. Anglo-Saxon common law provided a framework
of relative security and a sense of well-being for people and
things, both present and future. This is the security which is
designed to provide a high degree of freedom from fear and
therefore freedom to act. Such a society gives its people a
sense of liberty -- liberty under law. The American Founders
believed that without the protection of law there can be no
liberty.
Under established law every person's rights and duties
are defined. Anglo-Saxon common law provided a framework
of relative security and a sense of well-being for people and
things, both present and future. This is the security which is
designed to provide a high degree of freedom from fear and
therefore freedom to act. Such a society gives its people a
sense of liberty -- liberty under law. The American Founders
believed that without the protection of law there can be no
liberty.
-
Responsibility of Society to Establish Fixed Laws
-
John Locke pointed out that unless a society can
provide a person with a code of fixed and enforceable laws,
he might as well have stayed in the jungle:
"To this end it is that men give up all their natural
power to the society they enter into, and the community
put the legislative power into such hands as they think
fit, with this trust, that they shall be governed by
declared laws, or else their peace, quiet, and property
will still be at the same uncertainty as it was in the state
of Nature." (John Locke, Second Essay Concerning Civil
Government, p. 56, par. 136.)
John Locke pointed out that unless a society can
provide a person with a code of fixed and enforceable laws,
he might as well have stayed in the jungle:
"To this end it is that men give up all their natural
power to the society they enter into, and the community
put the legislative power into such hands as they think
fit, with this trust, that they shall be governed by
declared laws, or else their peace, quiet, and property
will still be at the same uncertainty as it was in the state
of Nature." (John Locke, Second Essay Concerning Civil
Government, p. 56, par. 136.)
-
John Adams
-
John Adams expressed the same tenor of thought when
he said:
"No man will contend that a nation can be free that
is not governed by fixed laws. All other government than
that of permanent known laws is the government of
mere will and pleasure." (A Defense of the Constitutions
of Government of the United States, 3 vols., Bud and
Bartram, Philadelphia, 1797, 1:124.)
John Adams expressed the same tenor of thought when
he said:
"No man will contend that a nation can be free that
is not governed by fixed laws. All other government than
that of permanent known laws is the government of
mere will and pleasure." (A Defense of the Constitutions
of Government of the United States, 3 vols., Bud and
Bartram, Philadelphia, 1797, 1:124.)
-
Law Is a Positive Good
in Preserving Liberty
As we have seen, the American Founding Fathers would
have agreed with Aristotle rather than Plato. Part of this was
due to the fact that the Founders looked upon law differently
than Plato. Instead of treating law as merely a code of
negative restraints and prohibitions, they considered law to
be a system of positive rules by which they could be assured
of enjoying their rights and the protection of themselves,
their families, and their property. In other words, law was a
positive good rather than a necessary evil. This was precisely
the view of John Locke when he wrote:
"The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to
preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of
created beings, capable of laws, where there is no law
there is no freedom. For liberty is to be free from
restraint and violence from others, which cannot be
where there is no law." (Second Essay Concerning Civil
Government, p. 37, par. 57.)
Law Should Be Understandable and Stable
The Founders were sensitive to the fact that the people
have confidence in the law only to the extent that they can
understand it and feel that it is a rule of relative permanence
which will not be continually changed. James Madison
emphasized both of these points when he wrote:
"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws
are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so
voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent
that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or
revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such
incessant changes that no man, who knows what the
law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is
defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a
247
rule, which is little known and less fixed?" (The
Federalist Papers, No. 62, p. 381.)
It will be recalled that Thomas Jefferson resigned from
Congress in 1776 to hasten back to Virginia and volunteer
for the task of rewriting the state laws so that, when
independence had been won, the people would have a model
system of legal principles which they could understand and
warmly support. The complex codes of laws and regulations
in our own day could be greatly improved through a similar
housecleaning.
in Preserving Liberty
As we have seen, the American Founding Fathers would
have agreed with Aristotle rather than Plato. Part of this was
due to the fact that the Founders looked upon law differently
than Plato. Instead of treating law as merely a code of
negative restraints and prohibitions, they considered law to
be a system of positive rules by which they could be assured
of enjoying their rights and the protection of themselves,
their families, and their property. In other words, law was a
positive good rather than a necessary evil. This was precisely
the view of John Locke when he wrote:
"The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to
preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of
created beings, capable of laws, where there is no law
there is no freedom. For liberty is to be free from
restraint and violence from others, which cannot be
where there is no law." (Second Essay Concerning Civil
Government, p. 37, par. 57.)
Law Should Be Understandable and Stable
The Founders were sensitive to the fact that the people
have confidence in the law only to the extent that they can
understand it and feel that it is a rule of relative permanence
which will not be continually changed. James Madison
emphasized both of these points when he wrote:
"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws
are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so
voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent
that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or
revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such
incessant changes that no man, who knows what the
law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is
defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a
247
rule, which is little known and less fixed?" (The
Federalist Papers, No. 62, p. 381.)
It will be recalled that Thomas Jefferson resigned from
Congress in 1776 to hasten back to Virginia and volunteer
for the task of rewriting the state laws so that, when
independence had been won, the people would have a model
system of legal principles which they could understand and
warmly support. The complex codes of laws and regulations
in our own day could be greatly improved through a similar
housecleaning.
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