" [4] In short,
the simple fact that the written law must be interpreted by the
natural, is, of itself, a sufficient confession of the superior
certainty of the latter.
The written law, then, even where it can be construed consistently
with the natural, introduces labor and obscurity, instead of
shutting them out. And this must always be the case, because
words do not create ideas, but only recall them; and the same
word may recall many different ideas. For this reason, nearly all
abstract principles can be seen by the single mind more clearly
than they can be expressed by words to another. This is owing to the
imperfection of language, and the different senses, meanings, and
shades of meaning, which different individuals attach to the same
words, in the same circumstances. [5]
Where the written law cannot be construed consistently with the
natural, there is no reason why it should ever be enacted at all.
It may, indeed, be sufficiently plain and certain to be easily
understood; but its certainty and plainness are but a poor
compensation for its injustice.
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