The known Law of any Nation, to be the rule of Obedience. [ 1103]
IT was the observation of a wise (but unfortunate) Peer of this Nation,* 1.1 at the time of his Triall, before an honourable Assembly, That if a man should passe down the Thames in a boat, and it be split upon an Anchor, and a Buoy being not set as a token, that there is an Anchor there; that party that owes the Anchor should, by the Maritime Law,* 1.2 give satisfaction for the dammage done: But if it were marked out, then he must come upon his own perill. And thus it is, that the known Lawes of a Nation, are made the rule of obedience to the People; the plain Law and Letter of the Statute, that tells where and what the crime is; and by telling what it is, and what it is not shewes how to avoid it: For were it under water, and not above, skulking onely in the sense of some musty record, and not divulged, no human providence could avail, or prevent destruction.