Elements of Morals Part 36

[11] See chapter IV.

[12] Lawyers make a distinction between _possession_ and _property_. The first consists simply in having the object in use; the second, in enjoying its exclusive use, even if the object were not naturally in one's hands.

[13] Victor Cousin, _The True, the Beautiful, and the Good_ (lectures xxi.

and xxii.).

[14] Which is to say that the acts are nothing if the heart is absent.

[15] St. Paul, 1 Cor., xiii., 1-7.

[16] In the _Provinciales_ this apostrophe is addressed to the Jesuits, whom Pascal accuses of loose maxims on the subject.

[17] _Le Devoir._ Part iv., Ch. iii.

[18] In Tuscany the penalty of death was abolished in the eighteenth century by the Grand Duke Leopold. It was again established with the Grand Duchy's annexation to the Kingdom of Italy. In Switzerland, after being abolished by the Confederation, the penalty of death was finally left to be determined by each particular canton.

[19] It answers the frequent a.s.sertion that the courtesy and regards which men owe each other reciprocally, would soon disappear if they were not protected by the resource of the duel.

[20] Jules Simon, _La Liberte_, ii. part, ch. iii.

[21] Thus we see Saint Simonian ideas completely disappear from the modern socialistic sects which all tend to blend with the equality-communism pure and simple.

[22] On the question of property, see Thiers, _La Propriete_ (1848) and the _Harmonies economiques de Bastiat_, ch. viii.

[23] See in the _Harmonies economiques_ viii., that ingenious and substantial theory which shows the growing progress of the community by reason of property.

[24] See especially about the question of interest, the controversy between Proudhon and Bastiat. (Works of Bastiat, vol. v., _Gratuity of Credit_.)

[25] Mode of reckoning in the time of Louis XIV.

[26] The scene between father and son in _The Miser_ (Sc. ii., Act iii.).

[27] See, in Moliere's _Don Juan_, the charming scene between Don Juan and Mr. Dimanche.

[28] "Things lost cannot give rise to an action for theft, when the finder, after having looked for their proprietor in vain, and only retained them when his researches proved fruitless, has ascertained that the proprietor will not present himself. But if the thing has been taken with the intention of appropriating it, if it has an owner, although unknown, there is no doubt about the delinquency." (Faustin-Helie, _Droit penal_, iv. edit., Lecon v., p. 66.)

[29] The play in Latin is on the words _otiandi_ and _negotiandi_.--Translator.

[30] _De Officiis_, Book III., ch. xiv.

[31] Definition of the canon law.

[32] _Digest_, II., -- 3, _De Furtis_.

[33] _Traite des obligations_, Part I., ch. i., -- 2.

[34] See Racine's tragedy of Phedre.

[35] Puffendorf, _Of the Duties of Man and the Citizen_, ii., c. ix., -- 18.

[36] In the United States children can, in the case of neglect by their parents, make contracts which are obligatory for whatever is necessary for them.

[37] Our Code does not admit that a mistake touching the person, vitiates the consent of the contractors, unless this consideration be the princ.i.p.al cause of the agreement.

[38] _Esprit des Lois_, XV., iv. The stipulations which Montesquieu demanded have been made, and have led to the suppression, or at least to a great diminution, of the slave-trade.

[39] By _maitrise_ was understood the rank or degree of master; and _jurandes_ was the name of an annual office by means of which the affairs of the corporation were administered: it also meant the a.s.sembly of workmen, who had lent the customary oath.

[40] Beaumarchais, _Barbier de Seville_.

[41] Nicole does not give any examples; but it is evident, for instance, that it is a graver fault to rashly incriminate the _integrity_ of a functionary than his _incapacity_, the _chast.i.ty_ of a woman than her _economy_.

[42] Nicole belonged to the sect of the Jansenists, celebrated for the harshness and rigidity of their morality.

[43] It is also called _commutative_ justice, somewhat improperly, in taking for its type the act of exchange, where one gives the equivalent of what he receives; but this expression is only truly correct when it touches upon property, and particularly upon sale, trust, loan. But the term _commutative_ has no longer much meaning when applied to the respect due to the life, the liberty, or the honor of others. Nevertheless, it is necessary to be familiar with the expression, as it is usually opposed to _distributive_ justice.

[44] _Nepotism_ is the custom of advancing to desirable posts the members of one's family; _simony_ (which has especially to do with the Church) consisted in the purchase of the ecclesiastical functions: the term may also, by extension, be applied to lay functions.

[45] We give on the next page an a.n.a.lysis of this Essay.

[46] Jouffret, _De la politesse_ (_A Lecture at the distribution of prizes at the Tournon Lyceum_, Tournon. 1880).

[47] Lamennais, _Paroles d'un Croyant_, xv.

[48] Kant, _Doctrine de la vertu_, trad. Barni, p. 160.

[49] It is the question debated between Alceste and Philinte in the first scene of the _Misanthrope_.

[50] Kant, _Doc. de la vertu_, trad. de Barni, p. 155.

[51] See Puffendorf, _Droits de la nature et des gens_, III., ch. iii.

[52] See our _Morale_, liv. II., ch. v.

[53] Abstinence from the flesh of animals was based by Pythagoras, as it was with the Brahmins, upon the doctrine of metempsychosis.

[54] The question is as to the acts themselves, and not their abuse.

[55] A philosopher of the school of Descartes, who, like his master, taught that animals are machines.

[56] _Education progressive_, VI., iv.

[57] _Bulletin de la Societe Protectrice des Animaux._ June, 1868.

[58] Law of the 2d July, 1850, called _Grammont Law_: "Shall be punishable by a fine of from five to fifteen francs, or from one to five days'

imprisonment, any one who shall publicly and abusively have maltreated domestic animals. In case of repet.i.tion of the offence, imprisonment."

A society--_Societe Protectrice des Animaux_--has been formed to come in aid to the law. The princ.i.p.al articles of its statutes are: "The aim of the society is to ameliorate, by all the means in its power, and conformably to the law of the 2d of July, 1850, the condition of animals.

The society awards recompenses to any propagating its work and inventing proper means to the relief of animals; to the agents of the police, pointed out by their chiefs as having enforced the laws and regulations for the prevention of cruelty and ill-treatment towards animals;--to the agents of agriculture, shepherds, farm-help, farmers, leaders of cattle;--to coachmen, butcher-boys, smiths--in short, to any person who, in some high degree, shall have given proof of good treatment, intelligent and continued care and compa.s.sion toward animals." See in its _Bulletins_, the useful results obtained by this interesting society.