11 h;stens to' add, "And pay tithes to the priest." "Do not steal," says the code, and immediately after, "He who refuses to pay taxes, shall have his hand struck off." Such was la.w; and it has maintained its two-fold character. to this day. Its origin is the desire of the ruling class to give perruaneace to customs imposed by themselves for their own acJvanta'ge. Its char~ter is the skilful commingling of customs useful to society, customs which have no need of law to ins_ure respect-, with other customs usefol only to rulers, injurious to the mass of the people, and maintained only by -th~ fear of punishment. Like individua.l capital, which was born of fraud and violence, and developed under the auspices of authority, law has no. title to the respect of men. Born of violence and supers~ition, and .established in the interests of consumer, priest ~nd rich exploiter, it must be utterly destroyed on the day when the people desire to break their cha,ins. We shall be still better convinced of this when, in the next chapter, we have analysed the ulterior development of laws under the auspices of religion, authprity and the existing par- ·liait1_entary system. Biblioteca Gino Bianco
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