date

[lxxxiv. 79] 1821 Decr 25 Codification
[lxxxiv. 79]

1821 Decr 25

Codification Proposal

?.5. Admission Universal

III Aptitude and Inaptitude

Napoleon

Of those /men/ by whom on a throne or elsewhere great power was /has been/ exercised, no one perhaps was with relation to the work of legislation more compleatly destitute of /lower in the scale of/ appropriate moral aptitude than Napoleon Bonaparte. Yet in virtue of the appropriate intellectual aptitude which with relation to that work he possessed, he has by means of that body of law of his called the Cinq Codes rendered to France not only very /a prodigiously/ great service, but greater service by far than was ever rendered by any of those Monarchs whose disposition was least adverse to the happiness of their fellow citizens, a Lewis the 16th for example or an Alexander the first. Lewis in his simplicity never thought of giving them a tangible and an all©comprehensive rule of action: Alexander at one time tried at it, and as will presently be seen failed. Napoleon had in his hand the plan of an all comprehensive body of law having for its end in view the greatest happiness of the greatest number with a rationale. Tallyrand had the merit of putting that plan into his hand His appropriate intellectual aptitude made him applaud it: c'est un ouvrage de genie were his words. His want of appropriate moral aptitude made him put it aside. It would have suited the purposes of those over whom he ruled: but it would not have suited his individual /own/ purposes. The hands he looked for were hands to /such as could and would and could/ frame a body of law that should suit his individual purposes: and no difficulty of course could he find in meeting with such hands.

Hence, instead of the clear and steady light he might have had, in the shape of an interwoven rationale, deduced all along from the principle of utility, from the principle of the greatest happiness of the greatest number, he had on each occasion in the shape of a detached dissertation or set of detached dissertations, an ”ignis fatuus•, composed of vague generalities consisting of vague©generality gas, twinkling aloft in a region or regions of unmeasurable altitude
Similar Items
  • Title: [ÁÁ[Sheet preceding lxxxiv. 73] Constitutional]
    Description: ÁÁ[Sheet preceding lxxxiv. 73]

    Constitutional Code © discarded from

    Codification Offer 3 Feby. 1822

    ?.5. Admission Universal. Members unapt. 1¼o: Ult¼o: Ultiss¼o.

    Rulers (Monarchs and Representatives) sinister interest its Modifications © branches © instruments © manner and course of operation and effects.

    Consummation /Ultimate effect/ of the Sinister sacrifice.

    [lxxxiv. 73]

    1821 Decr 4 Explanation

    Codification Proposal

    ?.5. Adm<...>on Universal

    Members Unapt

    III. Aptitude and Inaptitude

    Explanation

    On this occasion to prevent misconception and that the force of the reasons may be the more clearly perceptible, explanations of a few leading terms seem altogether indispensable.

    by appropriate aptitude on the part of the work in question is meant aptitude with relation to the only ultimate end which must be continually in view the greatest happiness of the greatest number, of which aptitude it is all along the business of the rationale to give indication and proof. By the explanation, the import of the property thus designated © an import which might otherwise appear indeterminate © is rendered determinate.

    On the part of the work, appropriate aptitude will depend partly upon the aptitude of each distinguishable part taken by itself, partly upon ”consistency•: upon consistency of design and execution as between part and part.

    As to both points, appropriate aptitude on the part of the work will depend upon appropriate aptitude on the part of the workman or workmen.

    On the part of the workman, the elements of appropriate aptitude may be comprehended under these three denominations: namely appropriate moral aptitude, appropriate intellectual aptitude and appropriate active talent.

    Appropriate intellectual aptitude will require to be moreover distinguished into appropriate judgment and appropriate knowledge.

    By appropriate moral aptitude is here meant neither more nor less than the disposition to contribute to the accomplishment of the all©commanding and all©comprehensive end so often mentioned. It may be termed in one word appropriate probity /”probity•/. But the attribute /adjunct/ ”moral• has the advantage of pointing and leading to the consideration of the related /kindred/ attribute ”intellectual•.
  • Title: [[lxxxiv. 67] 1821 Decr 16 Codification]
    Description: [lxxxiv. 67]

    1821 Decr 16

    Codification Proposal

    20

    Appendix

    Lawyers interest

    Suppose the existence of an appositely framed all©comprehensive body of law with its rationale, no man would see any use in applying to a professional lawyer for advice as to the question of law: every thing that belongs to the subject would be /lie/ as perfectly within the reach of any one man /the non©lawyer/ as of any other /the lawyer/: in this subject as in any other a man of weak judgment might have /feel the/ need of assistance from a man of stronger judgment: but in search of one, instead of a paid lawyer he would apply to an unpaid friend

    To this same purpose /above purposes/ what is required by lawyers interest is © that which, in respect of justice it is as repugnant /detrimental/ as possible to the interest of the greatest number the state of the law should by them be regarded as being as highly contributory to that same end as possible: the state of the law and the disposition and practice /conduct/ of those employed in the act /practice/ or pretence of giving due execution and whose, duty it is to give due execution and effect to it lest in proportion as a contrary opinion prevailed, endeavours should be and to [...?] render the law more apt to its professed end, and to diminish the sacrifice made by lawyers of the universal to their own particular and sinister interest.

    In regard to the state of the law in respect of appropriate aptitude and the state of mind the disposition and conduct of lawyers of the class of men employed in the practice or pretence of giving due execution and effect to it, © what the interest of the greatest number requires is © that the conception entertained should be as clear, as correct, as comprehensive and these clear correct and comprehensive conceptions as exclusively entertained as possible: that thus in so far as the law itself fails /is deficient/ in respect of appropriate apptitude, and the conduct of these functionaries there belonging to it fails is deficient in respect of moral aptitude, the endeavour to supply the deficiency may be as extensive, as strenuous and as persevering as possible.)
  • Title: [[lxxxiv. 82] 1821 Decr 28 Codification]
    Description: [lxxxiv. 82]

    1821 Decr 28

    Codification Proposal

    ?.5 Admission Universal

    III. Aptitude and Inaptitude

    Prejudice.

    Not only by the extent of which it is susceptible © by the unlimitedness of the numbers of those who are capable of sharing in it © is interest©begotten prejudice preeminently pernicious in comparison of the correspondent sinister interest, but also by the firmness of the hold which it takes on the mind. Those who are bound /engaged/ to course in question by no other tie than that of sinister interest may by sinister interest operating in an opposite direction be engaged in a moment engaged in a course directly opposite: whereas when once the mind is engaged in the trammels of prejudice, although it may have had its origin in sinister interest, there is no saying with what pertinacity and for what length of time it may not persevere in that same course: persevere in spite of the opposite action of ever so strong a force of interest © of interest in which ever direction operating.

    Frenchmen who being without prejudice, and at the same time preferring to his share in the universal interest each man the share he had in possession or expectancy in the particular and sinister interest of the ruling few, might in his attachment have vibrated any number of times between Lewis and Napoleon /a Capet and a Bonaparte/: while the multitude of those who, having no chance or expectations of advancement in the event of the restoration of the antient regime, persevered in their attachment, remained of course if there were any such attached to the old regime and would still at any time, expose themselves to a danger more or less considerable, for the purpose of restoring it. In so far as his conduct is determined by prejudice alone, he is what in English is termed a man of ”principle•: a man of principle, in contradistinction to a man whose conduct is determined by what in his eyes says the correspondent phrase is ”his interest•: and a man of principle he may be © this appellation may when applied to him be a proper one, even in the case where the attachment in question had even in the breast of this same man no other origin than a sinister interest.