OCR Text |
Show UNWRITTEN LAWS1 Man Dare Not Place Them Upon the Statute Books. THE SHIP CAPTAIN'S CODE. It Demands That the Sklpptr Shall Qo Down With Hit Vaaiel If Sha Da Loat, and It U Held Sacred The Iron Law of the Army and Navy. There Is a class of unwritten law which does not and cannot become written law, says Case and Comment, because It approaches so near tho dan-ger dan-ger lino Hint man dare not recogulzo tt to the extent of publishing It nnd declaring de-claring It as u part ot the positive law-It law-It Is tho unwritten law of tho sea that n captain must go dowu with his ship. Men dure not write It Into the contract, nnd nations daro not Incorporate Incor-porate It In their nay or mnrlno regti latlons, yet the tj rants of tho sea know the law nnd believe Hint to obey It betters their service, and theio nrf few Instances of Its being disregarded. It Is the unwritten law of tho army and nnvy thai an olllccr shall not seek cover, or nt least shall not show apprehension ap-prehension of danger to his person In tlmo of battle and In tho presenco of enlisted men or common sailors. In tho Franco-Prussian war nearly 4,000 otllcers of tho German army wero killed, aud the great majority of them gavo up their lives because they believed be-lieved In this law of conduct. Id obedience to this law Farragut bound himself to the mast, Leo rodo at tho bead of his charging column nt tho bloody ougle, and I.awton walked coolly lu front of tho lino nnd wns shot In the presence ot his men. Tho Inw of the right of revolution has been much tnlked about and much written nboul Every Intelligent cltl- J zen believes that he has tho right under un-der certain conditions to oppose tho es- j tabllshed go eminent of his own laud mid Join in an effort to establish another an-other In Its plare .lust prior to nnd during tho war between the states there was much discussion In this country by learned men on either sldo ' of thu right of revolution nnd the ' "higher power" nnd the "grenter law." ' Tho law Jiistlfjlng one person lu the killing of mother has required tho serious consideration of every country Every criminal code provides certain punishments for homicide, nnd many of them giaduate the punishment with minute puitlctilnrlty, according to the elrcumstniiii's of the killing, so that any one of sK ci lines mny bo Involved In n single I raged-. Such codes nlso attempt to define what killing Is Just! ' flnblo nnd what Is excusable nnd with , their interpretation by the courts attempts at-tempts to desOrlbo the only conditions under which one human being can kill another and not be guilty of cilme The Ilelnew code almost stands alone In Its lecogiiitlou ot man's destie I lo kill mid his light to have that de sire and that climax of nil satisfactions which ( nine (o lilm who under gieat ploMi ,tlon slays nnollier It Is not at i'I M. .iij.0 thai In this lii-aiiih llieio should he mi cMeudcd (ode of iiuwrlt Ii i .i i uiltlrn law, uuwiltleil mw nnd nhvnjs to be unwritten fur the leasoti that Hie locogiilllou glen liy Its cm hodlmelit In Ik htnt'utos would be Ink i en as a llcns(. by dhhnucst men mid would tesiilt In Inn in i.ilher than good II is nil unwrllleii law miioiig the ullh ers or tio uiiiiy that If u suhordi tiate olllrer kills a supeilor nlllcer be . hum? Hint oltker baa publicly degraded hlni l-v striking him or by other action equally humiliating then the comt martial mar-tial will not com let. Inning the war between the stutes on n memoiuble occasion oc-casion at Louisville. Kj. General No t-ou said to (icuer.il Davis: "How ninny men have you?" (icncial Dm Is leplh-d. "About" giving giv-ing an approximate number. Nelson said: "You mi uriiiy olllter and s.iy 'about!' Why dou't you 'know- how luany men you hae?" Aud with that he struck Davis In the face with his glove. Davis shot and killed him. and the court martini no-quilted no-quilted David. |