PROMULGATION. Promulgation is from the Latin Promulgo, which is equivalent to Provulgo, and means "to make public." Black stone observes of the promulgation of a law, "It may be notified by universal tradition and long practice, which supposes a previous publi cation, and is the case of the common law of England. It may be notified tied rocs by officers appointed for that purpose, as is done with regard to proclamations, and such acts of parliament as are appointed to be publicly read in churches and other assemblies. It may lastly be notified by writing, printing, or the like, which is the general course taken with all our acts of parliament." A law being a command from a political superior to a political inferior to do or not to do something, with a penalty attached to the violation of the command, it is assumed that the command is made known in some way to all who are bound to obey it ; or that it is known to all. But as to "a universal tradition and long usage," it is a mistake to say that it supposes a previous publication. A long usage does not of itself make law : the usage must be pronounced to be law by some competent authority, and that is the only promulgation which it has. Promulgation by pro clamation only reaches those who hear it, and everybody cannot hear an act of parliament which is read in churches, for the churches would not hold one-fourth of the people if they all went to hear it read ; and if they heard it read, very few would understand it.
Printing is at present the most efficient means of promulgating a new statute; but to all those who cannot read it is ineffectual; and so it is indeed to those who cannot understand it, which sometimes the judges themselves say they cannot do.
No remedy can be provided for these difficulties, and it is simply a positive rule of law that a new statute is binding on all persons who are under the authority of the power which makes the statute, from the moment that the statute is made and completed in due form. A person is presumed to know the law, because if he were allowed to urge ignorance of it as an excuse, it might be urged in so many cases as to give unbounded room for fraud. The positive rule that all the members of a state are bound by its laws, causes lees evil than the admission of the excuse would.
Promulgation of a law among the Romans meant the placing of the bill (rogatio) in some public place where it could be read before it was voted upon in the Comitia. The Roman rule, which we also adopt, was that ignorance of law (ignorantia juris) was no excuse. (Paulus, Dig. 22, tit. 6. B. 9.)