without it. For in vain would rights be declared, in vain directed to be obſerved, if there were no method of recovering and aſſerting thoſe rights, when wrongfully withheld or invaded. This is what we mean properly, when we ſpeak of the protection of the law. When, for inſtance, the declaratory part of the law has ſaid “that the field or inheritance, which belonged to Titius’s father, is veſted by his death in Titius;” and the directory part has “forbidden any one to enter on another’s property without the leave of the owner;” if Gaius after this will preſume to take poſſeſſion of the land, the remedial part of the law will then interpoſe it’s office; will make Gaius reſtore the poſſeſſion to Titius, and alſo pay him damages for the invaſion.
With regard to the ſanction of laws, or the evil that may attend the breach of public duties; it is obſerved, that human legiſlators have for the moſt part choſen to make the ſanction of their laws rather vindicatory than remuneratory, or to conſiſt rather in puniſhments, than in actual particular rewards. Becauſe, in the firſt place, the quiet enjoyment and protection of all our civil rights and liberties, which are the ſure and general conſequence of obedience to the municipal law, are in themſelves the beſt and moſt valuable of all rewards. Becauſe alſo, were the exerciſe of every virtue to be enforced by the propoſal of particular rewards, it were impoſſible for any ſtate to furniſh ſtock enough for ſo profuſe a bounty. And farther, becauſe the dread of evil is a much more forcible principle of human actions than the proſpect of good[1]. For which reaſons, though a prudent beſtowing of rewards is ſometimes of exquiſite uſe, yet we find that thoſe civil laws, which enforce and enjoin our duty, do ſeldom, if ever, propoſe any privilege or gift to ſuch as obey the law; but do conſtantly come armed with a penalty denounced againſt tranſgreſſors, either expreſſly defining the nature and quantity of the puniſhment, or elſe leaving it to the diſcretion of the judges, and thoſe who are entruſted with the care of putting the laws in execution.
