NOTES, BOOK 1V. 16. 181
tlative shore, should sit with his feet in the sea, until he found an
opportunity of sailing.
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?av WO?,LTLKGV Xlyoprv, mp\L tv p$ yivophov KaXSs Gtaurdacis yivovrar Kal
7i)y ToXrrsriv ai Ktwjucrr.
This sentence appears to be out of place j for no special mention
occurs of political causes in what follows; but the writer at once
returns to his former subject, and treats the appointment of judges
on the same principles which he has applied to the appointment
of other magistrates. It is possible that they connect with the
beginning of Book v, and that the rest of the chapter is only
a repetition in an altered form of c. 15. $6 17-22.
oi rpdrror rhruprs.
The scheme on which judges are appointed, though abridged,
IS the same as that on which magistrates are appointed ; and the
various modes correspond in like manner to different forms of
go~ernment.
The judicial institutions of a country reflect the political, but
111th a difference. The legislature is active, the courts of law are
passive; they do not move until they are set in motion, they deal
nith particular cases which are brought before them by others ;
and through these only do they rise to general principles. They
do not make laws, but interpret them; nor can they set aside
a law unless by appealing to a higher law. They are the con-
servative element of the state, rooted in habit and precedent and
tradition.
But there is also a certain analogy between the political and
judicial institutions of a country, In a free state the law must be
supreme, and the courts of law must exercise an independent
authority; they must be open and public, and they must include
a Popular element. They represent the better mind of the nation,
speaking through certain fixed forms ; and they exercise indirectly
a considerable influence upon legislation. They have their place
also in the education of the people: for they, above all other
Instructors, teach the lesson of justice and impartiality and truth.
As good actions produce pod habits in the individual, SO the
- 5, 6.