— 106 —
Und was ist dort gesagt? Etwas ganz anderes als im 4. und 5.
Satze des a.u. Vortrages! Die ganze Stelle — HATSCHEK zitiert
nur einen Teil von ihr — lautet: "
„In the arrangement of the laws, that which is best adap-
ted for the generality of the people ought to be regarded. The
multitude have not leisure for profoundly studying the laws:
they do not possess the capacity for connecting together distant
regulations — they do not understand the technical terms of ar-
bitrary and artificial methods. The matter of a code ought
therefore to be disposed in the order which will be most easily
understood by the least skilful — in the order which is most
interesting from the importance of the subjects — in a word,
in the most natural order.
But what is the most natural order? It is the order ac-
cording to which the law would be most easily consulted — in
which the text which applies to a given case would be most ea-
sily found, and its true meaning understood. The best me-
thod is that which gives the greatest facility in fin-
ding what is sought.“
Der letzte Satz ist in HATSCHERSs Zitat weggelassen. Ge-
rade er aber ist für den Sinn der ganzen Stelle bezeichnend.
BENTHAM bringt nämlich in ihr den Gedanken zum Ausdruck:
Damit das kodifizierte Recht auch der großen Menge zugänglich
sei, müsse die Anordnung des Stoffes auf eine natürliche („na-
tural“), leicht faßliche Art erfolgen. Im folgenden werden so-
dann mehrere „rules“ aufgestellt, durch deren Beobachtung jenes
„natural order“ erzielt wird:
„il. That portion of the laws which most clearly bears the
Impression of the will of the legislator, ought to precede those
portions in which his will is shown only indirectly.
For this reason, the penal code ought to precede the civil
code, and the constitutional code, etc.....
2. Those laws which most directly promote the chief ends