The Unity of Law (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1872. Excerpt: ... F. THE PROLETARIAT. The general adoption by English writers of the word " proletaire" as indicating the man who lives by the labor of his hands, and the danger that the bad example may be elsewhere followed, seem to make it proper here to show how essentially different are the conditions of the "proletariat" of the past, and that of the present, as this latter is now exhibited in Britain herself, and in her dependencies. That it is which it is proposed here to do, as follows: --The Roman Census and the Assessment Roll were one and the same. Therein, the proletaire figured as a citizen of the lowest class, paying revenue to the state only by means of begetting children for its service. That he was, on that score, considered a valuable member of the community, is a fact which exhibits itself in works of the chief writers on the Roman law. The time had yet to come when, under the trading dispensation, man was to be regarded, and treated, as "a drug," and population as "a nuisance;" yet is it doubtful if, in the long period that has since elapsed, there has been any material, if indeed any, increase in the numbers of mankind.f Looking now to the "proletaire" of that chief of the British possessions, India, we find him to have been so entirely deprived of power for combining with his fellow men, that of the physical and mental power with which he has been endowed by far the larger portion is absolutely wasted. As a consequence of this, production is so insignificant that the government, although sole rent-receiver, finds itself wholly unable to meet the demands upon it except by aid of taxation on one hand, and monopoly on another, destructive beyond anything that is elsewhere known.J Still unable to cover the constantly recurring deficit, it has now "Proletar...