Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 2.djvu/79

 LAW

LAUGHTER, an Action which Authors attribute to the fifth Pair of Nerves, which by fending Branches to the Eye, Ear, .Lips, Tongue, Palate and Mufcles of the Cheek, Parts Of the Mouth, Tracordia, &c. there hence arifes a Sympathy between allthefe Parts, i.e. when one of them is acted upon, the other are proportionably affected. Hence a favoury thing feen or fmelt, affects the Glands and Parts of the Mouth ; a thing feen or heard, that is Shame- ful, affects the Cheeks with Blufhes : on the contrary, if it pleafe and tickle the Fancy, it affects the Pn-ecordia and Mufcles of the Mouth and Face with Laughter ; if it caufe Sadnefs and Melancholy, it likewife affects the Prscordia, and demonftrates itfelf, by caufing the Glands of the Eyes to emit Tears. And Dr. Willis accounts for the Pleafure of Rifling from the fame Caufes, the Bran- ches of this fifth Pair being fpread to the Lips, the Prx- cordia, and the genital Parts j whence arifes a Sympa- thy between thofe Parts.

LAUNCH, in the Sea-Phrafe, is to put out 5 thus they fay, launch a Ship out of the Dock,orout of the Key, &c. LAURA, a Place where Monks antiently dwelt. Au- thors can't agree about the Difference between a Laura and a Monaftery. Some pretend that a Laura was a Mo- naftery, wherein there lived at leatt a thoufand Monks 5 but this is in no wife credible. The more credible Opi- nion is, that the antient Monafteries were the fame with the Modern, confifting of large Buildings, divided into Halls, Chapels, and Cells, poffeffed by the Monks, each of whom had his Apartment; but the Laurj? were a kind of Villages, whereof, each feveral Houfe was inhabited by one or two Monks at the tnoft : fo that the Houfesof the Chartreuxfeem, in fome meafure, to repre- fent the antient Laura, and thofe of the other Monks pro- per Monafteries. The Term Laura was only underftood of the religious Places in Egypt and the Eafi, where their Houfes ftood apart from each other, and were not joined by any common Cloifter, the Monks that inhabited them only meeting in publick once a Week. The word comes from the Greek K&vgf., Hamlet, Village.

LAUREATION, a Term in the Scottijb Univerfities, ufed for the Action of taking up the Degree of a Matter of Arts, to which the Students are admitted after four Tears Study in the Univerfity.

St. LAURENCE, an Order of Regular Canons, fo called from the Monaftery of St. Laurence d'Ottlx in Dau- fh'me. This Congregation is faid to have been founded by St. Bejinet. It was deftroyed by the Vandals, and con- tinued uninhabited till the middle of the Xlth Century. In 1057, Odo Count of Savoy gave it to one Gerrard and his Canons. This Donation was confirmed in 1065, by Cumbert Bifhop of Turin, who added to it above forty other Churches. By which means a very conflderable Congregation was formed, to whom the fucceeding Popes and Counts of Savoy granted a great many Privileges. It had thirty Priories. The Chief, who is the Prior of the Congregation, bears the Title of Provoft, and exercifes a ipiritual Jurisdiction throughout his Provoftihip.

LAURENTALIA were Feafts inftituted by the Roman People, in Honour of Acca Laurentia, kept during the Feufts called Saturnalia, which afterwards were folem- nized as a part thereof. She was a debauched Woman, antt nurfed Romulus and Remits, which occafioned the Fa- ble to fay, That a She-Wolf fucklcd them. She afterwards married a very rich Man, who brought her great Wealth, which, at her death, fhe left to the Roman People, in consideration whereof they performed her thefe Honours. LAW, a Command or Precept coming from fome fu- perior Authority, to which an inferior is obliged to obey'; or, more properly, a Command or Mandate of fome Per- fon, or Power, whofe Precept carries with it the Reafon of Obedience. Thus the Commands of God with re- fpect to Men, of a City with regard to the Citizens, and univerfally of all powerful Beings in refpectt to thofe who cannot refift, are called their Laws. The Nature of a Law will be the moil clearly difcovered, by /hewing wherein it differs from Covenant, Counfel, and Right or Equity, with all which it is frequently confounded. The Difference between a Counfel and a Law will be belt de- termined from the Difference between Counfel and Com- mand. Now a Counfel is a Precept wherein the Reafon of Obedience is taken from the Thing itfelf prefcribed ; a Command is a Precept, wherein the Reafon of Obe- dience depends on the Will of the Prefcriber ; for we can- not properly fay, fie volo, fie jubeo, unlefs ftet pro rations Voluntas. But fince inZfl^* we do not obey for the fake of the thing itfelf, but for the fake of the Perfon who pre- fcribes ir, a Lazv is not properly a Counfel, but a Com- mand. A Law comes from a Perfon who has a power over thofe whom he commands, a Counfel from him who has no fuch power. To do what is enjoined by a Law is an Act of Duty, what by a Counfel an Act of Choice or Free-will. A Counfel is directed to his Advantage who

(43?) LAW

receives jt, a. Law to his who gives it. A Counfel only takes effect over thofe who are willing, a Law over thofe that are unwilling. Laftly, the Authority of the Coun- fellor is taken away at theDifcretion of him to whom the Counfel is given 5 but the Authority of the Legiflator is not taken away at the Difcretion of him on whom the Law is impofed.

Law is always confounded with Covenant, by thofe who take Laws to be nothing elfe but foo\ey*)fHt-ra, or Forms of Living determined by the Confent of Man- kind : Among whom is Arifiotle, who defines a Law, a Declaration determined by the common Confent of a Ci- l y-> ( flawing in what manner Things are to be done J which is not fo much the Definition of a Law, as of a Civil Law : nor yet properly of a Civil Law 3 for this common Confent is no more than a mutual Covenant, which does not oblige any Perfon, and confequently is not any Law, till fome fupreme Power be contlituted with a Power to compel, and to make it penal to tranf- grefs it. Here then the Covenant is confounded with the Law, which leads into Abfurdities ; for a Covenant is a Promife, a. Law 3. Command. In a Covenant 'tis faid, I will do j in a Law, do. By a Covenant we are obliged, (that is, we mult perform becaufe of our Promife) by a Law we are preferved under that Obligation (that is, we are forced to perform for fear of the Puni/hment a- warded by it ;) a Covenant obliges by itfelf, a Law pre- ferves the Obligation by force. In a Covenant therefore we confider what is to be done e'er we are obliged to do it 5 in a Law we are obliged to do, in the firit place, and what is to be done is determined afterwards.

Law is confounded with Right or Equity, by thofe who perfift in doing what is permitted by the Div'nie Law, tho prohibited by the Lawso£ the Country. What is profi- ted by the Divine Law, cannot be permitted by the Civil Law, nor what is commanded by the Divine Law be prohibited by the Civil Law; but what is permitted by the Divine Law, may notwithstanding be prohibited by the Civil Law : for the inferior Laws have a power of reftraining the Liberty left the fuperior Laws, tho' they cannot enlarge it. Now Right or Equity is a natural Li- berty, not conflituted by Laws, but free of them ; for take away Laws, and Liberty is compleat. This Liberty is firit rcftrained by the Natural and the Divine Law, the reft reftrained by the Civil Laws ; and what re- mains unreftrained by the Civil Law, may be again re- ftrained by the Conititutions of particular Cities and So- cieties. There is a great Difference therefore between Law and Right, Lex & Jus ; for Law is a Chain, but Right, a Liberty ; and they differ as two Contraries.

All Law may be divided, with refpect to its different Authors, into Divine and Human. The Divine, again, may be confidered as twofold, with refpect to the two dif- ferent Manners in which God notifies his Will to Man, viz,. Natural (or Moral) and Pofmve. Natural is that which he has made known to all Mankind, by that innate Light, called Natural Reafon ; Pofitive is that which He has revealed by his Prophets ; as thofe Laws de- livered to the Jews, relating to the Divine Worfliip and Polity, which may be called Divino-Civil Laws, as being peculiarly directed to that People. Again, Natural Law may be divided into that natural Law of Men, which, in a peculiar Senfe, is called The Law of Nature, and the natural Lazv of Countries, commonly called The Law of Nations. The Precepts are the fame in both. But be- caufe, when Societies are once inftituted, certain perfonal Properties become veiled in Men, that Law which, when ' we fpeak of the Duties of Men feverally, we call The Natural Law, when transferred to Cities or Countries, we call The Law of Nations.

Again, All Human Laws are Civil ; for, according to Hobbes, the State of Man out of Society is a State of War, wherein no one being fubject to another, there can be no other Law befides the Dictates of Natural Reafon, which is the Divine Law. Civil Laws may be divided with re- gard to the Difference of the fubject Matter, into Sacred and Secular. Sacred are thofe that relate to Religion, that is, to the Ceremonies and Worfhip of the Deity, and which are not prefcribed by any pofitive Divine Law. Se- cular are thofe that relate to Property, £S?c. commonly call'd by the name Civil.

Further, Civil Laws confidered with regard to the two Offices of the Legiflator, viz. to judge, and to compel, may be divided into two Branches ; the one Diftributive, the other Vindicative and Pcenary. Distributive is that Branch by which every Man has his Right ; or that which conftitutes the Rules and Meafures of Things, whereby we know what belongs to us, and what to others, fo as we may not difturb or interrupt others in the Enjoyment of their own, nor be interrupted by them, and what each Man may lawfully do or not do. Vindicative is that Branch bv which the Puni/hments to be inflicted on thofe

who