THE SCIENTIFIC LAW 79 



that there must be some wide difference between philo- 

 sophic and scientific systems, between theological and 

 scientific formulae. I shall endeavour in this chapter to 

 ascertain wherein this difference lies, to discover what is 

 the meaning of the word law when used scientifically, and 

 in what sense we can say that scientific law has universal 

 validity. 



S 2. — Of the Word Laiv and its Meanings 



The term law probably recalls to the reader, in the 

 first place, the rules of conduct proclaimed by the state 

 and enforced under more or less heavy penalties against 

 certain classes of its citizens. Austin, the most luminous 

 English writer on jurisprudence,-^ who has devoted a very 

 large portion of his well-known work to a discussion of 

 the meaning of the word laiv, remarks : — 



" A law, in the most general and comprehensive 

 acceptation in which the term, in its literal meaning, is 

 employed, may be said to be a rule laid down for the 

 guidance of an intelligent being by an intelligent being 

 having power over him." 



He further goes on to observe that where there is such 

 a rule there is a command, and where there is a command 

 a corresponding duty. From this standpoint Austin pro- 

 ceeds to discuss the various types of law, such as civil, 

 moral, and divine law. It will be at once seen that with 

 Austin's definition of law there is no place left for law in 

 the scientific sense. He himself recognises this, for he 

 writes : — 



" Besides the various sorts of rules which are included 

 in the literal acceptation of the term law, and those which 

 are by a close and striking analogy, though improperly, 

 termed laws, there are numerous applications of the term 

 law, which rest upon a slender analogy and are merely 

 metaphorical or figurative. Such is the case w^hen we 

 talk of laivs observed by the lower animals ; of laws 

 regulating the growth or decay of vegetables ; of laius 



^ Lectures on Jiirispnidence, 4th ed. London, 1879. 



