Note 71 — Chapter VIII · PLATONIC COMPOSITIONS GENERALLY.

Plat. Protag. 320-328. The large sense of the word Νόμος, as conceived by Pindar and Herodotus, must be kept in mind, comprising positive morality, religious ritual, consecrated habits, the local turns of sympathy and antipathy, &c. M. Salvador observes, respecting the Mosaic Law: “Qu’on écrive tous les rapports publics et privés qui unissent les membres d’un peuple quelconque, et tous les principes sur lesquels ces rapports sont fondés — il en résultera un ensemble complet, un véritable système plus ou moins raisonnable, qui sera l’expression exacte de la manière d’exister de ce peuple. Or, cet ensemble ou ce système est ce que les Hébreux appellent la tora, la loi ou la constitution publique — en prenant ce mot dans le sens le plus étendu.” (Salvador, Histoire des Institutions de Moise, liv. i. ch. ii. p. 96.)

Compare also about the sense of the word Lex, as conceived by the Arabs, M. Renan, Averroès, p. 286, and Mr. Mill’s chapter respecting the all-comprehensive character of the Hindoo law (Hist. of India, ch. iv., beginning): “In the law books of the Hindus, the details of jurisprudence and judicature occupy comparatively a very moderate space. The doctrines and ceremonies of religion; the rules and practice of education; the institutions, duties, and customs of domestic life; the maxims of private morality, and even of domestic economy; the rules of government, of war, and of negotiation; all form essential parts of the Hindu code of law, and are treated in the same style, and laid down with the same authority, as the rules for the distribution of justice.”

Mr. Maine, in his admirable work on Ancient Law, notes both the all-comprehensive and the irresistible ascendancy of what is called Law in early societies. He remarks emphatically that “the stationary condition of the human race is the rule — the progressive condition the exception — a rare exception in the history of the world”. (Chap. i. pp. 16-18-19; chap. ii. pp. 22-24.)

Again, Mr. Maine observes:—“The other liability, to which the infancy of society is exposed, has prevented or arrested the progress of far the greater part of mankind. The rigidity of ancient law, arising chiefly from its early association and identification with religion, has chained down the mass of the human race to those views of life and conduct which they entertained at the time when their institutions were first consolidated into a systematic form. There were one or two races exempted by a marvellous fate from this calamity: and grafts from these stocks have fertilised a few modern societies. But it is still true that over the larger part of the world, the perfection of law has always been considered as consisting in adherence to the ground-plan supposed to have been marked out by the legislator. If intellect has in such cases been exercised upon jurisprudence, it has uniformly prided itself on the subtle perversity of the conclusions it could build on ancient texts, without discoverable departure from their literal tenor.” (Maine, Ancient Law, ch. iv. pp. 77-78.)