XJLW
71
LAW
tent than under other ^tems. As the law is deemed
to be contained in the decisions of the courts, it neces-
sarily follows that the rule to be observed.in any partio-
ular proceeding must be found in some prior aecision.
Wnen ^e period of English colonization in America began, the aborigines were found to be wholly uncivil- lE^ and, consequently, without any system of juris- prudence, whatsoever. Upon the theory that the English colonists carried with them the entire svstem of the English law as it existed at the time of their migration from the fatherland, the colonial courts adopted and acted upon the theory that each colony, at the very moment of its inception, was sovemed by the legal system of England mcluding me juridical principles administered by the common law courts and by the High Court of Chancery. Thus, law and equity came hand in hand to America and have since" beoi the common law of the former English colonies.
When the thirteen American colonies achieved their independence, the English common law, as it existed with its legal and eouitable features in the year 1607, was universallv held by. the courts to be the common law of each of the thirteen states which constituted the new confederated republic known as the United States of America. As the United States have in- creased in number, either by the admission of new states to the Union carved out of the ori^nal undivided territory, or by the extension of territorial area through purchase or conouest, the common law as it existed at the close of the War of the American Revolution has been held to be the common law of such new states with the exception that, in the State of Louisiana, the civil law of Rome, which ruled within the vast area originally called Louisiana, has been maintained, sub- ject only to subsequent legislative modifications. The I)ominion of Canada is subject to the common law with the exception of the Province of Quebec and the civil laws of that province are derived from the old customary laws of France, particularly the Custom <^ Paris, in uke manner as the laws of the English-speak- ing provinces are based upon the common law of Eng- lana. In process of time, the customary laws have been modined or replaced by enactments of the Im- perial and Federal parliament and by those of the provincial parliament; they were finally codified in the year 1866 upon the model of the Code Napoleon. However, the criminal law of the Province of Quebec is founded upon that of England and was to a great extent codified by the federal statute of 1892. Prac- tice and procedure in civil causes are governed by the Code of Civil Procedure of the year 1897.
The common law of England is not the basis of the jurisprudence of Scotland ; that country having adhered to the civil law as it existed at the time of the union with England except so far as it has been modi- fied b}r subsequent legislation. The English common law with the exceptions which have been noted pre- vails throughout the English-speaking world. Mexico, Central America, and South America, with the excep- tion of an English Colony and a Dutch Colony, remain under the sway of the civil law. The common law of England has been the subject of unstinted eulogy and it is, undoubtedly, one of the most splendid embodi- ments of human genius. It is a source of profound satisfaction to Catholics that it came into being as a definite system and was nurtured, and to a great ex- tent admmistered, during the first ten centuries of its existence by the clergy oT the Catholic Church.
Reevbs, UitUny of the EnglUh Law (Philadelphia, 1880); BLACKcrroinB, Canunentaries on the lAiwe of England, Shars- WOOD etOtUm (Philadelphia, 1875); Pollock and MArnuiKD. rik« ffialm of J?n0ltc& Law (Boston. 1875); Kent. CommenlA- lift upom Anurican Laiw (12th ed., Boston, 1873).
John Willey Wilus.
Law, DzvxNB, Moral Aspect op. — Di\'ine Law is that which is enacted by God and made known to man through revelati(m. We distinguish between the Old
Law, contained in the Pentateuch, and the New Law,
which was revealed by Jesus Christ and is contained in
the New Testament. The Divine Law of the Old Tes-
tament, or the Mosaic Law, is commonly divided into
civil, ceremonial, and moral precepts. The civil legis-
lation regulated the relations of the people of God
among themselves and with their neighbours; the
ceremonial r^a^ulated matters of religion and the wor-
ship of God; the moral was a Divine code of ethics.
In this article we shall confine our attention exclu-
sively to the moral precepts of the Divine Law. In the
Old Testament it is contained for the most part and
summed up in the Decalogue (Ex., xx, 2-17; Lev.,
xix. 3, 11-18; Deut., v, 1-33).
The Old and the New Testament, Christ and His Apostles, Jewish as well as Christian tradition, agree in asserting that Moses wrote down the Law at the direct inspiration of God. God Himself, then, is the lawgiver, Moses merely acted as the intermediary be- tween God and His people; ho merely promulgated the Law which he had been inspired to write down. This is not the same as to say that the whole of the Old Law was revealed to Moses. There is abundant evi- dence in Scripture itself that many portions of the Mosaic legislation existed and were put in practice long before the time of Moses. Circumcision is an in- stance of this. The reli^ous observance of the seventh day is another, and this, indeed, seems to be implied in the very form in whicn the Third Commandment is worded: '^Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day." If we except the merely positive determinations of time and manner in which religious worship was to be paid to God according to this commandment, and the prohibition of making images to represent God contained in the first commandment, all the precepts of the Decalogue are also precepts of the natural law, which can be gathered by reason from nature herself, and in fact they were known long before Moses wrote them down at the express command of God. This is the teaching of St. Paul — " For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature those things that are of the law; these having not the law [of Moses], are a law to themselves: who shew the work of the law written in their hearts^ their conscience bearing witness to them (Rom., li, 14, 15). Although the subsbince of the Decalogue is thus both of natural and Divine law, yet its express promulgation by Moses at the com- mand of God was not without its advantages. The great moral code, the basis of all true civilization, in this manner became the clear, certain, and publicly recognized standard of moral conduct for the Jewish people, and through them for Christendom.
Because the code of morality which we have in the Old Testament was inspired by God and imposed by Him on His people, it follows that there is notning in it that is immoral or wrong. It was indeed imperfect, if it be compared with the higher morality of the Gospel, but, for all that, it contained nothing that Ls blame- worthy. It was suited to the low stage of civilization to which the Israelites had at the time attained; the severe punishments which it prcscrilxMl for trans- gressors were necessary to bend the stiff necks of a rude people; the temporal rewards held out to those who observed the law were adapted to an luispiritiial and carnal race. Still its imperfections must not be exaggerated. In its treatment of the poor, of strangers, of slaves, and of enemies, it was vastly superior to the civilly more advanced Code of Hammurabi and other celebrated codes of ancient law. It did not aim merely at regulating the external acts of the people of God, it curbed also licentious though t.s and covetous desires. The love of Go<l and of one's neigh})our was the great precept of the Law, its summary and abridgment, that on which the whole Law and the Prophets depended. In spite of the undeniable superiority m this respect of the Mosaic I^iw to the other codes of antiquity, it has not escaped the adverse criticism of heretics in all ages
