A Discourse on the Study of the Law of Nature and Nations: Introductory to a Course of Lectures on that Science, to be Commenced in Lincoln's Inn Hall, on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 1799, in Pursuance of an Order of the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn

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T. Cadell [and 4 others], 1799 - International law - 68 pages

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Page 6 - For there are in nature certain fountains of justice, whence all civil laws are derived but as streams ; and, like as waters do take tinctures and tastes from the soils through which they run, so do civil laws vary according to the regions and governments where they are planted, though they proceed from the same fountains.
Page 63 - Le droit des gens règle les relations entre les différents États. «Il est naturellement fondé sur ce principe, dit Montesquieu (Esprit des Lois, livre I, chap. m), que les diverses nations doivent se faire , dans la paix, le plus de bien , et, dans la guerre , le moins de mal possible , sans nuire à leurs véritables intérêts.
Page 17 - ... his enemies when they were weak. In times of the most furious, civil and religious faction, he preserved his name unspotted; and he knew how to reconcile fidelity to his own party, with moderation towards his opponents.
Page 17 - The sagacity of his numerous and fierce adversaries could not discover a blot on his character ; and in the midst of all the hard trials and galling provocations of a turbulent political life, he never once deserted his friends when they were unfortunate, nor insulted his enemies when they were weak.
Page 18 - He was not of such a stupid and servile cast of mind, as to quote the opinions of poets or orators, of historians and philosophers, as those of judges, from whose decision there was no appeal. He quotes them, as he tells us himself, as witnesses whose conspiring testimony, mightily strengthened and confirmed by their discordance on almost every other subject, is a conclusive proof of the unanimity of...
Page 16 - Yet if we fairly estimate both his endowments and his virtues, we may justly consider him as one of the most memorable men who have done honour to modern times. He combined the discharge of the most important duties of active and public life, with the attainment of that exact and various learning which is generally the portion only of the recluse student.
Page 19 - ... not in unison with those of their readers. No system of moral philosophy can surely disregard the general feelings of human nature and the according judgment of all ages and nations.
Page 5 - Under this comprehensive title are included the rules of morality, as they prescribe the conduct of private men towards each other in all the various relations of human life ; as they regulate both the obedience of citizens to the laws, and the authority of the magistrate in framing laws, and...
Page 17 - It has, however, been the fashion of the last half century to depreciate his work as a shapeless compilation, in which reason lies buried under a mass of authorities and quotations. This fashion originated among French wits and declaimers, and it has been, I know not for what reason, adopted...
Page 20 - Even virtue and wisdom themselves acquire new majesty in my eyes, when I thus see all the great masters of thinking and writing called together, as it were, from all times and countries, to do them homage, and to appear in their train.

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