Year: 1899
Type: article
Abstract: The common law is a true reflection of social conditions. By it the people express their accumulated opinions. It is an index to the past and must mark our progress in the future. The common or unwritten law is supposed to be founded upon the imperceptible growth of the usages and conventionalisms of men; maturing little by little until, in theory, it becomes as is said, the perfection of reason; while statute or written law is the abrupt expression of the legislative will founded upon the accumulated opinions of the people. The one corrects evils and supplies needs by slow processes; the other overturns, alters, and invents remedies, as occasions arise; and its enactments are wholesome and beneficial or otherwise, according as the legislative mind is intelligent and pure. No matter what our individual ideas may be, whether of social or professional conditions, we must accept, for the time being
Source: JAMA
Author: W. W. VINNEDGE
Language: English
Topic: Health, Medicine and Society
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2047246573