Description
Excerpt from First Principles
Nor has the rej ection Of primitive political beliefs, resulted only in transfen the authority of an autocrat to a repre sentative body. The views entertained respecting govern ments In general, of whatever form, are now widely different from those once entertained. Whether popular or despotic, governments Were in ancient times supposed to have unlimited authority over their subjects. Individuals existed for the benefit of the State; not the State for the benefit of in dividuals. In our days, however, not only has the national will been in many cases substituted for the will of the king but the exercise of this national will has been restricted to a much smaller sphere; In England, for instance, though there has been established no definite theory setting bounds to govern mental authority yet, in practice, sundry bounds have been set to it which are tacitly recognized by all. There is no organic law formally declaring that the legislature may not freely dispose Of the citizens'' lives, as early kings did when they sacrificed hecatombs of victims; but were it possible for our legislature to attempt such a thing, its own destruction would be the consequence, rather than the destruction of citizens. How entirely we have established the personal liberties of the subject against the invasions of State-power.
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Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Nor has the rej ection Of primitive political beliefs, resulted only in transfen the authority of an autocrat to a repre sentative body. The views entertained respecting govern ments In general, of whatever form, are now widely different from those once entertained. Whether popular or despotic, governments Were in ancient times supposed to have unlimited authority over their subjects. Individuals existed for the benefit of the State; not the State for the benefit of in dividuals. In our days, however, not only has the national will been in many cases substituted for the will of the king but the exercise of this national will has been restricted to a much smaller sphere; In England, for instance, though there has been established no definite theory setting bounds to govern mental authority yet, in practice, sundry bounds have been set to it which are tacitly recognized by all. There is no organic law formally declaring that the legislature may not freely dispose Of the citizens'' lives, as early kings did when they sacrificed hecatombs of victims; but were it possible for our legislature to attempt such a thing, its own destruction would be the consequence, rather than the destruction of citizens. How entirely we have established the personal liberties of the subject against the invasions of State-power.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Details
Publisher - Forgotten Books
Language - English
Paperback
Contributors
Author
Herbert Spencer
Published Date -
ISBN - 9781333093464
Dimensions - 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm
Page Count - 515
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