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213

Right, in that it enters into existence, at first, in the form of being-posited, also enters, according to its content, as application, into relation with the matter of the relationships and kinds of property and of contracts, which multiply and become entangled into the infinite within civil society — and further, of the ethical relationships resting on disposition, love, and trust, though of these only insofar as they contain the side of abstract right (§ 159); the moral side and moral precepts, as concerning the will according to its most proper subjectivity and particularity, cannot be an object of positive legislation. Further matter is supplied by the rights and duties flowing from the administration of justice itself, from the state, and so on.

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2 responses to “213”

  1. Eduard Gans (Additions) Avatar
    Eduard Gans (Additions)

    In the higher relations of marriage, love, religion, and the state, only those sides can become an object of legislation which, by their nature, are capable of possessing externality. Meanwhile, the legislation of different peoples makes a great difference here. Among the Chinese, for example, it is a law of the state that the husband should love his first wife more than the other wives he has. If he is convicted of having done the opposite, he is punished with a beating. Likewise, in older legislations there are found many prescriptions concerning fidelity and honesty which are inappropriate to the nature of law, because they fall entirely within the inner realm. Only in the case of the oath, where matters are committed to conscience, must honesty and fidelity be taken into account as something substantial.

  2. Hegel (Simple) Avatar
    Hegel (Simple)

    § 213: What the law can govern

    We must apply right to real life. To property and contracts, which grow ever more tangled. Also to family and marriage, but only in their external sides.

    What can the law not govern?

    Morality. Disposition. No one can prescribe love, faithfulness and sincerity. They belong to the inner life.

    An example:

    The story goes that China once had such a law. A man must love his first wife more than his other wives. Whoever did not got a beating. This is absurd. You cannot order love.

    Only with the oath is it different. There we rely on conscience.

    Summary: The law governs the external sides of life. Morality and inner disposition lie beyond its reach.

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