Page:Madras journal of literature and science 3rd series 1, July 1864.djvu/13



of the most difficult and at the same time important questions which arise after a conquest, is to decide upon the law by which the conquered race shall be governed. At a first glance there seems to be merely a choice between two alternatives, the law of the conquered, or the law of the conquerors. Indolence and liberality both seem to be in favour of the former alternative, and probably the majority of men would unhesitatingly pronounce for it, without a suspicion that their decision could be either impolitic or unjust. Yet it may possibly be both one and the other.

The law of a nation is merely an authoritative expression of its social condition, at the time the law came into force, so far as that social condition is recognised by the State. But that social condition may have passed away, or be passing away, or may be so radically unsound, that it ought to be altered. In the two former cases the law is no longer suited to the requirements of the conquered, and it would be un- just to enforce it. In the latter case, the law is an actual