Now  I  shall  not  attempt  to  formally  define  what  we  recog-
nise as  positive  law.   There  is  a  battery  of  exT;losive
dynamite  in  every  definition.  Vhere  two  men  like  Black-


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stone  and  Austin  differ  radically  and  fundamentally  it  is

7

loest  for  ordinary  students,  like  you  and  I,  to  venture
upon  no  definitJons,  "but  to  comprehend  this  positive  law
from  some  of  its  essential  and  vital  characteristics.   One
of  the  most  importa.nt  of  these  we   sha.ll  find  to  be  what
we  call  the  Sanction.  Law  is  nothing  unless  compulsory.
If  it  holds  the  scales  thoughtfully  it  must  also  wield
the  sword  severely.   It  is  but  a  request--a  suggestion--
a  handful  of  helpless  advice,  unless  there  is  behind  it  some
power  to  compel  obedience.   Only  on  that  condition  does
it  reach  the  dignitj'  of  a  command;  for  en   order  that  may
be  disobeyed  Y;ithout  shadow  of  penalty  or  punishment  cesses
to  be  a  command  and  can  never  ripen  its  fruit  into  a  law.
lie   are  apt  to  deal  with  the  reign  of  force  as  typical  of
and  peculiar  to  barbaric  ages,  but  that  is  a  mistake.  We
can  no  more  eliminate  -'orce  from  the  moral  original  sys-
tems than  from  that  of  the  physical  world.   Unless  it  stands
behind  the  command  ready  to  enforce  it  there  is  no  lav;  in
any  proper  acceptation  of  the  term.  ]?orce  does  and  must
so  stand  behind  the  Lav/.   In  these  days  it  ffi.akes  no  public
display,  but  i^there  nevertheless:  It  is  there  in  the
massed  strength  of  the  whole  comraunlty:-  a  reserved  end.
