It
is the science of justice, and almost all men have the same
perceptions of what constitutes justice, or of what justice
requires, when they understand alike the facts from which their
inferences are to be drawn. Men living in contact with each other,
and having intercourse together, cannot avoid learning natural
law, to a very great extent, even if they would. The dealings of
men with men, their separate possessions, and their individual
wants, are continually forcing upon their minds the questions,
Is this act just? or is it unjust? Is this thing mine? or is it
his? And these are questions of natural law; questions, which, in
regard to the great mass of cases, are answered alike by the human
mind everywhere.
Children learn many principles of natural law at a very early age.
For example: they learn that when one child has picked up an
apple or a flower, it is his, and that his associates must not take it
from him against his will. They also learn that if he voluntarily
exchange his apple or flower with a playmate, for some other
article of desire, he has thereby surrendered his right to it, and
must not reclaim it.
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