The Law And Civilization, Part 1 to blupete's Essay "The Law"
To state it in its extremes: Law is a cobweb,2 entangling the weak, the sport of the strong; however, those in the law, most, take the view of the author of our lead quote -- Law is the very substance of civilization.3 Implicit, in Judge Gest's comment about our "long armed and hairy ancestors" is the Hobbsian concept that man, in his natural state, is a vile beast that needs to be restrained by laws. Actually, our western culture, as it has developed, took its cue from quite an opposite notion. While, no doubt, man must be restrained by laws, and, indeed, has been restrained by natural laws since his earliest beginnings: man is not, and could not, have come to be what he is today if he was but a snarling and thoughtless being, who, as a general statement, cannot see beyond his present place and moment in time.
