Saturday, February 21, 2004

Channeling Benjamin Constant

Brian Micklethwait has posted Book IV, Chapter Two,"The Idea Which Usually Develops about the Effects Which the Proliferation of the Laws Has and the Falsity of That Idea" of Constant’s book Principles of Politics Applicable to All Governments. Portions I found particularly noteworthy follow.

"People normally think that when the government allows itself to multiply prohibitive and coercive laws at will, provided that the intention of the legislator is clearly expressed, provided that the laws are not in any way retroactive, provided that citizens are told in time of the rule of behavior they must follow, the [84] proliferation of laws has no drawback other than cramping individual freedoms a little. This is not the case. The proliferation of laws, even in the most ordinary of circumstances, has the bad effect of falsifying individual morality."

and

"The rule of the just and the unjust is no longer in the consciousness of man but in the will of the legislator. Morality and inner feeling undergo an unfathomable degradation through this dependence on an alien thing, a mere accessory—artificial, unstable, and liable to error and perversion."

Just read the whole thing over at Samizdata, it’s not that long.

Posted by John Venlet on 02/21 at 06:05 AM
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