Note 452 — Chapter IX

“We find,” says Sigwart, “a wide field for our inferences in the application of general laws which have their origin in our will and are meant to regulate that will. In laying down a general rule of conduct, our will determines that there shall be a universally valid connexion between certain conditions and certain modes of action. If we will the general law, it is logically necessary that we should will the particular actions prescribed by the law, if our will is to be constant and consistent, and valid for everyone who agrees in willing the general law. All penal codes in imposing a penalty of imprisonment for theft, of capital punishment for murder, lay down a series of hypothetical judgments which establish a universal connexion between committing the crime and incurring the penalty. These judgments, moreover, may also be regarded as theoretical propositions in so far as they express the general obligation of the judge to give sentence in accordance with the law” (Logic, i. p. 337).