The laws of the civil state,
therefore, only turn upon the juridical form of the coexistence of men
under a common constitution; and, in this respect, these laws must
necessarily be regarded and conceived as public laws.
The civil union (unio civilis) cannot, in the strict sense, be
properly called a society; for there is no sociality in common between
the ruler (imperans) and the subject (subditus) under a civil
constitution. They are not co-ordinated as associates in a society
with each other, but the one is subordinated to the other. Those who
may be co-ordinated with one another must consider themselves as
mutually equal, in so far as they stand under common laws. The civil
union may therefore be regarded not so much as being, but rather as
making a society.
42. The Postulate of Public Right.
From the conditions of private right in the natural state, there
arises the postulate of public right. It may be thus expressed: "In
the relation of unavoidable coexistence with others, thou shalt pass
from the state of nature into a juridical union constituted under
the condition of a distributive justice." The principle of this
postulate may be unfolded analytically from the conception of right in
the external relation, contradistinguished from mere might as
violence.
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