Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/55

§. 2. ecretion, and all other branches of vital oeconomy;—are not left to chance, or the will of the creature itelf, but are performed in a wondrous involuntary manner, and guided by unerring rules laid down by the great creator.

then is the general ignification of law, a rule of action dictated by ome uperior being; and in thoe creatures that have neither the power to think, nor to will, uch laws mut be invariably obeyed, o long as the creature itelf ubits, for it’s exitence depends on that obedience. But laws, in their more confined ene, and in which it is our preent buines to conider them, denote the rules, not of action in general, but of human action or conduct: that is, the precepts by which man, the noblet of all ublunary beings, a creature endowed with both reaon and freewill, is commanded to make ue of thoe faculties in the general regulation of his behaviour.

conidered as a creature, mut necearily be ubject to the laws of his creator, for he is entirely a dependent being. A being, independent of any other, has no rule to purue, but uch as he precribes to himelf; but a tate of dependance will inevitably oblige the inferior to take the will of him, on whom he depends, as the rule of his conduct: not indeed in every particular, but in all thoe points wherein his dependance conits. This principle therefore has more or les extent and effect, in proportion as the uperiority of the one and the dependance of the other is greater or les, abolute or limited. And conequently, as man depends abolutely upon his maker for every thing, it is neceary that he hould in all points conform to his maker’s will.

will of his maker is called the law of nature. For as God, when he created matter, and endued it with a principle of mobility, etablihed certain rules for the perpetual direction of that motion; o, when he created man, and endued him with freewill to conduct himelf in all parts of life, he laid down cer- tain