Page:Struggle for Law (1915).djvu/188

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The Struggle for Law


right of property, that, in some cases, the complaint does not always lead to the proposed end.” With this the person may console himself who carries everything he owns upon his person in the form of valuable papers. He still holds his property and the reivindicatio, and the robber has nothing but actual possession! This reminds me of the man who, when robbed, consoled himself with the reflection that the robber had not the directions for the use of the stolen object. Others admit that, when the loss of a very large sum is involved, it is allowable to employ force, only as a last resort, but they make it the duty of the person attacked, no matter under how great excitement he may be laboring, carefully to consider how much force is required to repel the attack. If he needlessly cracks the skull of the aggressor, where any one who had previously had an opportunity to subject the strength of the skull to an exact examination would have been able to render him harmless by a less powerful stroke, he is held responsible! On the other hand, in

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