ABSTRACT
The idea of arbitrary power exercised at the willful discretion of any man is alien to the very conception of a civilized society. It is the legalism of the barbarian, and the instinctive political philosophy of all who have not been disciplined to, or are in reaction against, the usages of civilization. The law of nations is declared to be imposed by natural reason. By the two modes of thought the logic of authority is, so to speak, the more instinctive in that it rationalizes the primitive and persistent impulse to dominate, to submit, to stand in awe of power and to seek its protection. By this higher law all formal laws and all political behavior are judged in civilized societies. The development of human rights is simply the expression of the higher law that men shall not deal arbitrarily with one another.
