JEREMY BENTHAM, DANZEMBRINCK, SÓCRATES Y "LOS DEFENSORES DEL ESTADO"

 

La serpiente, como es sabido, puede hacer pasar todo su cuerpo por la apertura por donde pasará su cabeza: con respecto a la tiranía legal, es de esta cabeza de la que debemos guardarnos.

(Así hablaron los abogados del Estado (Bentham) hace casi 200 años)

 

But when the judge dares to arrogate to himself the power of interpreting the laws, that is to say, of substituting his will for that of the legislator, every thing is arbitrary---no one can foresee the course which his caprice may take. It is not enough to regard this evil in itself alone: how great soever it may be, this is a trifle in comparison of the weight of its consequences. The serpent, it is said, can cause its whole body to enter at the opening through which its head will pass: with regard to legal tyranny, it is against this subtle head that we should guard, for fear of shortly seeing displayed in its train all its tortuous folds. It is not only evil which should be distrusted, but good also, if derived from this source. All usurpation of a power superior to the law, though useful in its immediate effects, ought to be an object of dread for the future. There are limits, and narrow limits to the good which may result from this arbitrary power: there are none to the evil, there are none to the alarm, which may arise from it; the danger indistinctly lowers over every head.

Without speaking of ignorance and caprice, what facilities for prevarication! The judge, sometimes by conforming to the law, sometimes by becoming its interpreter, may always give right or wrong to whom he pleases: he is always sure to save himself, either by the literal, or by the interpretative sense. He is a conjuror, who, to the great astonishment of the spectators, draws from the same fountain bitter waters, or sweet, as he pleases.

This is one of the noblest characteristics of the English tribunals: they have generally followed the declared will of the legislator with scrupulous fidelity, or have directed themselves as far as possible by previous judgments, with regard to that still imperfect portion of legislation which depends on custom. This rigid observation of the laws may have had some inconveniences in an incomplete system, but it is the true spirit of liberty which inspires the English with so much horror for what is called an ex post facto law. 

 

Principles of the Civil Code

Jeremy Bentham

Part 1

Objects of the Civil Law.

    

"Genial la observación de Danzenbrinck: los tres pueblos, griegos, romanos y judíos mataron a su mejor hombre: Sócrates, Julio César y Jesucristo. Pero la grandeza y la superioridad de los romanos se muestra en que no mataron a su gran hombre en un proceso judicial." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gorgias