| Show voz eor for tho the dr warr newa NEWS hosic AL BASIS OF BY WLLLIAM ac K MAY in the case cabe ot of reynolds vs united it was wils declared by a major 7 of ghe the judges forming the unit states supreme ourt court quit that a pern might believe any auy anything things no atter alter what without breaking any w but when that belief bellef sted by an open physical act not then pc he law lav rightfully v I 1 tion tida of the subject matter smatter this opinion issuing from trow the highest judicial tribunal in the hinos hinds land wo wd have a right to expect that it shall duplay the best bind hind soundest and ana true truest at principles ples pies of laws law and also that there would be no eva slen of issues but that it be unprejudiced impartial anci and square neu leu ua seo feo from this opinion what are arp we to intel infer that the mind and body act independently of esch each ot otiel undoubtedly that is the logical conclusion for if a belief is ia not a physical act what is it let us understand the difference between beliet belief and a physical actions action elee eleew we emay may be jd led innocently to break arp a k the law apparently thib this opinion n should have been preceded by a comprehensive treatise on spiritual philoe philosophy ophy lacking which our learned Judges are manifestly at fau fault lt but what is a belief can it exist without any physical manifestation fe if so how shail ahall we account for ruch such facts as the dependence depend erce ence of our feelings and moods upon hunger repletion tho state ot of the stomach fatigue and rest pure and a 11 d impure air cold and warmth stimulants t and 2 drugs orup bodily injuries dis disease rease sease sleep advancing ing log S jears yearb arb ars these Influence a extend not merely to 10 the grosser modes or of feelings and to such famil itu izu as after dinner oratory but also to the highest mot motives ves tes of tle mind love ager amer ae aesthetic chetto feeling and moral sensibility Ille health alth aith keeps keepe an atheist in the dark bodily affliction la is often the cause ot of a total change in the moral nature natum again sudden out bursts of emotion deran derange the bodily functions fear fean par paralyzes the digest digestion lom great mental depression enfeebles ail all the tha organs protracted and sevene bevere mental labor b brings on dl diseases seass feass of the bodily organs ou on the he other othen the band happy outward circumstances am are to td to health and longevity find mind and body by prot bain balm undoubtedly if a belief is a mental operation then jor every such there Is ia fa corresponding physical action acteon W which ich means expenditure of life yet V 1 we wa are art told tb that hit bit we can believe belleve bell beli ev 6 bu but bui 1 must mus tn t n not bi manifest it how can wei wel we heip help it EvId evidently enily either prejudice or ignorance has ledburg led our judges astray man mail is ia i a dual being eia ili he la je compounded 01 of two extreme element 04 th the and menial mental th I 1 keehr I 1 ind unseen lle ile he fie tangible por for the purposes ot municipal law he must be ba thus the two elements must not be separated we must take him HS As we find him we cannot treat him in the light of ehe ebe gods as conceived by aristotle as our learned judges would have it and what is equally as important he must be considered from the physical side and not from the mental for the objective point makes a vast difference in the general view obtained as aa much perhaps as there would be between surrounding scenery as viewed either from a high mountain or from the abe valley and metaphorically speaking as we are not able to jollow follow the eagle in the eyrie let us na content our ourselves relves among the buds of the valley it is the attempt to do both these that makes the history of the various i governments of the thel earth one continual history of bloodshed and religious though the cloud of errer abich which has enveloped the earth for ages agea Is fast disappearing thanks be to the establishment ot 0 the united santes government fam dha ment which menz entered the fire first w wedge dge into the in penetrable political dar oar darkness knets and made light possible pos yet it has ha not all disappeared as 3 witness the above quoted decision to make our meaning plain let jet us take up the question of morality when can it a man be said to be moral or immoral now this from the phyll cal bide side we say that a moral man Is ia one in whom ajl ail the physical functions are all discharged in degrees duly adjusted to the conditions of existence now thia this is plain concrete and can be no difference of opinion about this or if any it can only be attributed to ignorance but if we change our stand standpoint pInt of criticism then a diversity and confusion ensues which the most erudite cannot canno conci conciliate late lato the subject becomes complex abstract and ambiguous for a difference of opinion will noi nol only exist among men of diffie different rent religious belief but even among those professing the same bame the strict devout catholic will believe that it Is immoral to eat cat meat on friday whilst another does not so believe the orthodox artho dox jew will not touch pork yet a christian considers a pork eating jew just as moral as the ar thodor now jf if we concede that the question of morality is a fit subject of legislation it becomes of the highest importance whether we legislate from the physical side bide or the spiritual side bide from the concrete or tho tha abstract from one side bide men of every E hade shade of religious belief can agree agrees from the other it la Is impossible we anve have said that from the stand point of municipal law man mad maw must be considered as a dual being and it may be asked how ean eau can we consider him only from froan me the physical side we must bear in mind that we are dealing with a paradox and thia thit contradiction is ia ollya reproduction of the seeming contradiction in fact man presents a picture that Is ia truly unique in his compound organization tio nand and one that we are arel utterly erly unable to parallel yet the fact still remains not having then a perfect knowledge of the subject we cannot make perfect law that is ia the work only of him mhd made man to be perfect j judges of the aeta aota of m men e n we must dot dob not only regard their immediate and special consequences but sibo also thein their most moat remote and general A thing clearly beyond the reach rench of say rny sass says sone bone one if this 1 be trae why not go ahead hit cr miss mibs for we are as likly ilke like ly to be right one way WRY as the other not so BO however with the relations which the physical sustains to the physical we are tolerably well acquainted vi with th the physical upon mental and mental upon physical W are arel not ao sio well informed in fact it may be basald said that on chese these points our knowledge amounts to nothing but speculation what then does this show us it shows us that in making milking rules to guide or restrain arten in their conduct we must to be consistent confine ou ourselves to the he effect of 0 physical upon physical this tha conclusion reason reasonably ably logically find bad as ai experience prokep imperatively fol foi follows lows lowb blik but ga af if all mental facts acts are at the same bame time physical facts toots some somme wiil will ase nse what Is 13 the meaning of a proper mental fact la Is there any difference at all between mental agents amenta and physical ft arents rents there la is a very b road noad difference which may maybe be easily illustrated when any one to is pleased sti stimulate stimulated mulat ed cheered by food wine or bracing air we becu c it the influence physical it operates oper open ates atea on the viscera and through these upon the nerves by a ohain chain of sequence purely phy phi elbal when one Is cheered by good news by a pleasing a spectacle hr or by a stroke of ct success the influence tnt tuf luence Is mental sen een hought thought houg ht and consciousness are part of theo thee the bain hain although these those cannot be sustain sustained ed without their physical bagts babbe the proper physical fact la is a me one sided objective tam tact the rhe mental fact to is a two sided faco maco ona one of the bides sides being a train of feelings feell ought thought tt or other subjective ele elements ments menta we do not fully represent the mental fact unless we take account of both sides the so called mental influences cheerful me nes news mes s a fine fino poem and the rest cannot operate except on a frame physically prepared to respond to the tho stimulation baem to make our meaning more obal on ou clet alet cIet let iet us take up ame some bome of the laws as ag gt t present existing in the united states sst bit ates atee one law says that murder Ppe speaking akIng in general term shall be punished with death now according to the rule here sought to be exemplified it is in harmony because we are dealing with a physical subject lct considered from a physical point of view it is just juat and proper because every individual ha hat haq an inherent inh h e ent right to live and he who t takes tes ies that life justly forfeits his own and it can bo be properly presumed that if lie he does it once he be may do it twice therefore to prevent further loss of life he be is IN executed as the only screand sure bure and certain preventive known to to man let us here notice that the punishment follows a crime about which there Is no reasonable diversity of opinion christian and jew being united on that point looking at it then from thib thief standpoint all will agree upon the propriety of capital punishment but if criticized from a metaphysical point of view we become at once involved in interminable and ci lable labie discussions further in the consideration of the act physically we do not lose sight of the duality of the individual and after the commission of the act we examine the intent when we are thrown back upon physical evidence and as it is better to buffer suffer wrong than to do wrong the accused is given the benefit of any doubt all ali is a plain and direct way of protecting siw society and though it may lick lack completeness we have done all that human power can do on another hand we have laws that enact that one who threatens another give bonds in default of which he be shall be the committed and his natural liberty Is restrained not for anything he be has done but for something he be has not done in reality ye but says one he has done something he hel has hag spoken or written well Is it a crime to speak or to write clearly not then why restrain his hia liberty simply because of the fear actual or presumed existing in the mind of some bome individual according to our rule municipal authority has then no Jurl juri jurisdiction edio edic because the crime crimes if any there be inest must be considered from the mental side a thing out of our reach the principles of thedore the fore roro going e examples are hero rover rever reversed bed bod the intent la Is sought wore lore the commission of the acu nce the law assumes tid th e position of the conjurer the punishment precedes an imaginary crime crine weare seeking the exercise ot of a power we wd do not 0 possess we are trying to fo prevent something we cannot irmay it may argued that a threat by acting upon tha ear or eyes and consequently upon the nerves and viscera may derange the bodily functions curtail the life of the individual all of which may be very true but brt helas heiss it is not the only ill III that geelt is heir for which there is no adequate remedy in the making of human law we have not to conil consider cler the making of man wo we must take him as he la with all his infirmities the matter may be deplored but there thele bisno hu hd man help perhaps by reabon renson of 0 buch sueh laws the tholise th elife olife life ilfe of one individual may te preserved nf shall we deviate from true truel principle for unknown contingencies shall we relinquish the the tho uncertain if so where shall we stop mark twain bays buys that in fiance france their laws are made on the principle that it li la better to hang five hundred innocent men than to let a guilty one escape but we must remember that we disclaim any des botic aitio form of government let us hen then be consistent the province of law is to preserve pra erve order among the several units forming society oa lety that and noth bothi ingmore it Is not a school for the promulgation ol of the lator pagan or Chrls christian tian philo philosophies sophes apparently as far as the ponts punts pu ants at issue are axe concerned our judges have digre Eed what then are hd ha issues unlike our learned judge we do not desire to prolong the controversy and to make a long matter short we will state it A small portion coition of the body lody politic bevere believe that it is a tenet of their religion that thu they should marry more than one wo manat one and tho the bame same time or consecutively now the question fuestion la 12 does the belief we say bay belief for it h not one whit more physical when ful fui nUel and is just as wro wrong og one ore way as the other if one Is wrong the other Is wrong if one Is right the other is right contravene any principle of natural law or any of those these upon which our gov go it it can be answered in the affirmative then than we will con aeed that it is a rightful subject of legislation and should aie aio be abolished even to a complete extermination if in the negative then it must be admitted th that atthe the decision and opinion quoted together with the enactment upon which the action was based base dare are a serles series of religious religion perse bione tione worthy of a roman inquisition but a shame and a disgrace to the american people who allow it this may seem a strong way of put ting it but it must be remembered that the subject is strong whichever way we we may look at it let us look at the foundation upon which rests municipal law a generally and particularly that of the united states bays that upon thebe these two foundation the law jaw of nature and the law jaw of revelation depend all human law ss with due respect to the intelligence and learning of the celebrated jurist thia statement of tho the case la Is not congruent because it implies that being two sources of authority there may boa bea bo a variance and anything depending on a contrariety cannot possess that stability which should form one ef cf the main characteristics of law besides Le sides the law of revelation if its existence Is admitted is a supernatural law the supernatural being bellog over and above the natural the latter iatter must be dependent upon the former wh which ich reduces the two foundations to one alle and he might have said sald with more propriety that the human law depended on the supernatural but tills this statement ia a liable to the objection that all men do not agree upon this point hence hencey and if jt it be accepted there would result a state of confusion leading to 10 anarchy which would defeat the very aim and object of jaw from prom what has already been said other objections could be added but this one alone is suo buo fl fi clent to be brief then we will simply make the declaration that upon the law ot of nature depends all human law statement ly la eusi busi of physical demonstration as wo shall bee bce but first what is the law laa a w of nature 2 the he latu law afna of na ture is tite tige conditions upon which depends our physical existence this definition of a much vexed question Is ia at once simple and comprehensive but will become more obvious by illustration illustration lct iet us illustrate it is necessary in order to live that we should have pure nir air witness |
