2,7^ Justice and the Expansion of Life 



A single thought sums up the history of the Hebrew 

 prophets during a thousand years: The day will come 

 when justice will reign upon the earth.' 



Every social reform is based upon the demand for 

 justice. Yet, knowing this, men act on the prin- 

 ciple that the way to avoid submission to injustice 

 is to practise injustice to others. Reprisal fol- 

 lows retaliation, leading to a cumulative use of 

 force in ever-increasing destruction. 



But we have moved forward. Tacitus tells of 

 a slaughter of four hundred slaves. In 390 a.d. 

 Theodosius had seven thousand Thessalonians 

 killed in the public theatre because they had 

 protested against one of his decrees. In times of 

 peace such things are no longer possible. With 

 the sole exception of international war we have 

 advanced far beyond our position of even a century 

 ago. We are developing a new type of social 

 legislation which represents a new social conscience, 

 awakening to the need for a larger conception of 

 social justice. 



History is a lesson in the evolution of law — first 

 within small units, then within larger and larger 

 areas. Despotism served its term in extending 

 the sphere of law. The mediaeval dream of a 

 universal monarchy was an imperfect image of a 

 world of law. The whole history of political 

 evolution is a record of the extension of the area of 

 justice. Today the human species is broken up 



' Renan, Histoire du peuple d' Israel, Paris, 1893, vol. v., p. 132. 



