This singular
distinction, though something may be allowed for the urgent necessity of
defending the peace of society, is derived from the nature of criminal
and civil jurisprudence. Our duties to the state are simple and uniform:
the law by which he is condemned is inscribed not only on brass or
marble, but on the conscience of the offender, and his guilt is commonly
proved by the testimony of a single fact. But our relations to each
other are various and infinite; our obligations are created, annulled,
and modified by injuries, benefits, and promises; and the interpretation
of voluntary contracts and testaments, which are often dictated by fraud
or ignorance, affords a long and laborious exercise to the sagacity of
the judge. The business of life is multiplied by the extent of commerce
and dominion, and the residence of the parties in the distant provinces
of an empire is productive of doubt, delay, and inevitable appeals from
the local to the supreme magistrate. Justinian, the Greek emperor of
Constantinople and the East, was the legal successor of the Latian
shepherd who had planted a colony on the banks of the Tiber.
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