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community’s written code of law. This is what we call equity; people regard it
as just; it is, in fact, the sort of justice which goes beyond the written law. Its
existence partly is and partly is not intended by legislators; not intended,
where they have noticed no defect in the law; intended, where find themselves
unable to define things exactly, and are obliged to legislate as if that held
good always which in fact only holds good usually; or where it is not easy to
be complete owing to the endless possible cases presented, such as the kinds
and sizes of weapons that may be used to inflict wounds-a lifetime would be
too short to make out a complete list of these. If, then, a precise statement is
impossible and yet legislation is necessary, the law must be expressed in wide
terms; and so, if a man has no more than a finger-ring on his hand when he
lifts it to strike or actually strikes another man, he is guilty of a criminal act
according to the unwritten words of the law; but he is innocent really, and it is
equity that declares him to be so. From this definition of equity it is plain
what sort of actions, and what sort of persons, are equitable or the reverse.
Equity must be applied to forgivable actions; and it must make us distinguish
between criminal acts on the one hand, and errors of judgement, or
misfortunes, on the other. (A ‘misfortune’ is an act, not due to moral badness,
that has unexpected results: an ‘error of judgement’ is an act, also not due to
moral badness, that has results that might have been expected: a ‘criminal act’
has results that might have been expected, but is due to moral badness, for
that is the source of all actions inspired by our appetites.) Equity bids us be
merciful to the weakness of human nature; to think less about the laws than
about the man who framed them, and less about what he said than about what
he meant; not to consider the actions of the accused so much as his intentions,
nor this or that detail so much as the whole story; to ask not what a man is
now but what he has always or usually been. It bids us remember benefits
rather than injuries, and benefits received rather than benefits conferred; to be
patient when we are wronged; to settle a dispute by negotiation and not by
force; to prefer arbitration to motion-for an arbitrator goes by the equity of a
case, a judge by the strict law, and arbitration was invented with the express
purpose of securing full power for equity.
The above may be taken as a sufficient account of the nature of equity.
14
The worse of two acts of wrong done to others is that which is prompted by
the worse disposition. Hence the most trifling acts may be the worst ones; as
when Callistratus charged Melanopus with having cheated the temple-builders
of three consecrated half-obols. The converse is true of just acts. This is
because the greater is here potentially contained in the less: there is no crime
2200
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book The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Title
- The Complete Aristotle
- Author
- Aristotle
- Date
- ~322 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 2328
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Table of contents
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156