Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/359

 *dividuals should conform to a minor system of law, which may vary in every household according to the expediency of its particular circumstances. Of the latter code of conduct it will be unnecessary to speak further; it might be identical in part or wholly, in ancient and modern times, and among different nations, or differ considerably in families living in the same age and adjacent to one another. But statute law affects similarly all persons subject to its jurisdiction, and it is of this only we have to treat.

The origin of, and necessity for, law, humanly enacted, arises from the gregarious tendency of mankind, through which the desires and acts of the individual become circumscribed with reference to those of his neighbours. At a very early stage in civilisation the conception of individual rights is awakened by each person becoming keenly perceptive of self-interest; and hence those in a neutral position feel inclined to resent that another should suffer a wrong to which they themselves would be unwilling to submit. Thus the germs of altruism are sown in a community, and the general utility of some rule of justice being enforced soon becomes apparent to all. Yet each one is loth to abandon advantages which he finds to be within his grasp; and the abuse of power leads to oppression, injustice, and crime. Power is of various kinds, and consists in the ability to take from another some valued thing by open force, by strict legality, or by stealth. The last-named is theft, and, in its various aspects, creates the necessity for almost all criminal law; but the former are with difficulty dealt with by, and sometimes form the paradox of legislation. Thus, by a general convention the greatest injustice may be enforced within a state, and that in two relationships, viz., as regards the members of other states, and with respect to its own citizens. In the