Struggle for Rights a Personal Duty
were for an injury to property. The old Roman peasant was satisfied with twenty-five as for a slap on the face; and when a person put out one of his eyes, he was willing to talk the matter over and to arbitrate, instead of putting out one of his opponent’s eyes, as he was authorized to do. But he demanded that the law should empower him to hold the thief caught in the act, as a slave, and, in case of resistance, to slay him; and the law permitted him to do so. In the former case, only his honor, his body, was at stake; in the latter, his property.
As a third illustration, let us take the case of the merchant. His credit is to him what honor is to the officer, and property to the peasant. The maintenance of his credit is, for him, a vital question; and the man who charges him with negligence in meeting his obligations deals him a heavier blow than the one who attacks his person or robs him. It is in keeping with this peculiar position of the merchant that recent laws tend more and more to restrict the crime of negligent and
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