and publish his opinions on all subjects relative to the government. The liberty of speech and of the press, and the liberty of conscience, are enjoyed in the United States to their full extent. But this liberty does not imply that a person may so act as to violate the rights of others, or to disturb the good order of society.

CHAPTER III.

Of Laws.-The Law of Nature-Law of Revelation→ Law of Nations-Municipal Law.

LAW, in its most general and comprehensive sense, signifies a rule of action; and is applied indiscriminately to all kinds of action, whether animate or inanimate, rational or irrational. Thus we say, the laws of motion, of gravitation, of optics, of mechanics, as well as the laws of nature and of nations. And it is a rule prescribed by some superior, and which the inferior is bound to obey.

Law, in a more confined sense, denotes the rules of human action or conduct: that is, the precepts by which man, the noblest of all sublunary beings, a creature endowed with both reason and free will, is commanded to make use of these faculties in the general regulation of his behavior.

Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be

right enjoyed in the United States? Does freedom of opinion imply that a person may in all cases act as he pleases?

What is law in its most general and comprehensive sense; and to what object is it applied? In a more confined sense what does it denote ?

To what laws must man as a creature necessarily be subject?

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subject to the laws of his Creator; for he is entirely a dependent being. A being independent of any other, has no rule to observe but such as he prescribes to himself: but a state of dependence obliges the inferior to take the will of him on whom he depends as the rule of his conduct, in all those points in which his dependence consists. Consequently, as man is dependent on his Maker for every thing, he should in all points conform to his Maker's will. This will of his Maker is called the law of nature. For God, when he created man, and endued him with free will, laid down certain immutable laws of human nature by which that free will is in some degree regulated and restrained, and gave him also the faculty of reason to discover the meaning of these laws. These laws are founded in those relations of justice that existed in the nature of things, antecedent to any positive command or › precept. These are the eternal and unchangeable laws of good and evil to which the Creator himself conforms; and which he has enabled human reason to discover, so far as they are necessary for the conduct of human actions. Among the principles of these laws are the following: That we should live honestly, should hurt nobody, and should render to every one his due. And in order to prompt men to pursue the rule of right, the Creator has been pleased to make their happiness depend on the practice of this rule. This law of nature is superior to all other laws. It is binding in all countries, and at all

By what rule of action is an independent being governed? Man being dependent on his Maker for every thing, what is his duty? What is this will of his Creator called? By what is the free will of man regulated and restrained? By whom are these laws laid down? On what are they founded? Does not the Creator in his dispensations conform to these eternal and unchangeable laws? How far has he enabled human reason to discover these laws? What has God done to prompt man to pursue the rule of right? In what places, and when, is the law of nature binding? Are

times; and no human laws which are contrary to it, are of any validity. If man's reason were always, as before his transgression, clear and perfect, and unclouded by prejudice, he would need no other guide: but his moral faculties having been impaired, Divine Providence, in compassion to the frailty, imperfection and blindness of human reason, has been pleased to discover and enforce his laws by immediate and direct revelation. The doctrines thus delivered are called the revealed or divine law, and are found in the Holy Scriptures. These precepts agree with the original law of nature. Both originate from the same source, are of equal obligation, and tend alike to promote the good of mankind.

Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, all human laws depend: that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these, And if any human law should enjoin us to do any thing that is forbidden by the natural or divine law, we are bound to transgress that human law. But in regard to matters which are neither commanded nor forbidden by those superior laws, a human legislature may make an action unlawful which before was not so. For instance, if the congress of the United States should pass a law, prohibiting the importation of a certain commodity from a foreign country, the importation of such commodity, would be an unlawful act, although in itself not unlawful, being neither commanded nor forbidden by a superior law,

human laws valid if they are contrary to the law of nature?

Does man in his present state need any other guide than reason? By what have the moral faculties of man been impaired and corrupted? How has Divine Providence aided human reason? What are the doctrines of revelation called; and where are they found? Do these precepts agree with the original law of nature? To what do they tend?

Upon what do human laws depend? If human laws contradict the laws of nature and of revelation, which are we bound to obey?

course.

As it is impossible for the whole race of mankind to be united in one great society, they must necessarily divide into many, and form separate states and nations, entirely independent of each other, and yet liable to mutual interHence arises another kind of law, called the law of nations. But as no state will acknowledge another to be its superior, this law seems to depend upon the rules of the law of nature applied to nations as moral persons, upon mutual treaties, leagues and agreements, and upon usages and customs. So far as the law of nations is founded on the principles of natural law, it is equally binding in every age, and upon all mankind.

Municipal or civil law, as defined by Blackstone, is a rule by which particular districts, communities or nations are governed; a rule of civil conduct prescribed by the supreme power of a state, commanding what is right, and prohibiting what is wrong. [Municipal, derived from a Latin word, had reference to the particular customs of one single municipium or free town; yet it is with sufficient propriety applied to a state or nation which is governed by the same laws and customs.] But the definition above given by the celebrated English commentator is not strictly correct when applied to municipal law in a free government, where absolute and unlimited power is not committed to any one of its organs. A discriminating American author gives the following as a more accurate definition: "6 Municipal law is a rule of civil conduct prescribed by a competent authority in the state, enjoining what ought to be done, and prohibiting what ought not to be done." And Chancellor Kent, in his commentaries on American Law, observes: "The principle in the English

From what arises the law of nations? On what is the law of nations founded? How far is it binding in every age, and upon all mankind?

What is municipal or civil law? Define the word municipal.

government, that the parliament is omnipotent, does not prevail in the United States; though, if there be no constitutional objection to a statute, it is with us as absolute and uncontrollable as laws flowing from the sovereign power under any other form of government. But in this, and in all other countries, where there is a written constitution designating the powers and duties of the legisla tive, as well as of the other departments of the government, an act of the legislature may be void as being against the constitution."

CHAPTER IV.

Of the different Forms of Government.

GOVERNMENT, in a political sense, is that form of fundamental rules and principles by which a state or nation is governed, or by which the members of a body politic are to regulate their social actions. By government is also meant the administration of public affairs, according to established constitutions, laws and usages.

The object of government is to secure to the members of a community the enjoyment of their natural rights. As every government is designed to promote the happiness and well being of its citizens, that government must be the best which conduces most to this end. Governments, good or bad, have existed in all ages.

What is government; and what are the objects of a good government? How may we judge what form of government is best?