5 - The obscurity of the laws

Summary

If interpretation of the laws is an evil, it is obvious that the obscurity which makes interpretation necessary is another. And it is the greatest of evils if the laws be written in a language which is not understood by the people and which makes them dependent upon a few individuals because they cannot judge for themselves what will become of their freedom or their life and limbs, hindered by a language which turns a solemn and public book into what is almost a private and family affair. What are we to think of mankind, seeing that such is the long-standing practice of the greater part of educated and enlightened Europe? The more people understand the sacred code of the laws and get used to handling it, the fewer will be the crimes, for there is no doubt that ignorance and uncertainty of punishment opens the way to the eloquence of the emotions.

One consequence of the foregoing thoughts is that, without the written word, a society will never arrive at a fixed form of government, in which power derives from all the members and not just from a few, and in which laws which are unalterable except by the general will, are not corrupted as they make their way through the throng of private interests. Experience and reason have taught us that the credibility and reliability of human traditions diminish the further we get from their origins.