LAUNCH. The movement by which a ship or boat descends from the shore into the water when she is first built, or afterwards.
A large, long, low, flat-bottomed boat. Mar. Diet. The long-boat of a ship. R. II. Dana. A small vessel employed to carry the cargo of a large one to and from the shore.
The goods on board of a launch are at the risk of the insurers till landed. 5 Mart. La.
s. 387. The duties and rights of the .rnas ter of a launch are the same as those of tho master of a lighter.
When the master of a vessel agreed to,take cotton on board his vessel from the cotton press, and employed a steam-lighter for that purpose, and the cotton was lost by an explo sion of the steam-boiler of the lighter, it was held that his vessel was liable in rem for the loss. 23 Bost. Law Rep. 277.
LAW. That which is laid down ; that which is established. A rule or method of action, or order of sequences.
The rules and methods by whieh society compels or restrains the action of its mem bers.
The aggregate of those r,ules and princi ples of conduct which the governing power in a community recognizes as the rules and principles which it will entbrce or sanction, and according to which it will regulate, limit, or protect the conduct of its members.
A ruIe of civil conduct preser,bed by the supreme power in a state. I Stephen, Comm. 25.
A rule or enactment promulgated by the legislative authority of a state; a long-esta blished local custom which has the force of such an enactment. 10 Pet. 18.
The doctrines and procedure of the com mon law of England and America, as distin guished from those of equity.
An oath. So used in the old English prac tice, by which wager of law was allowed. See WAGER OF LAW% 2. Perhaps few terms whose use requires equal precision serve in so many diverse meanings as the term law. In its root it signifies that which is laid down, that which is established. "In the largest sense." says Montesquieu (Esprit des Lois, b. 1, ch. 1), "laws are the necessary relations which arise from the nature of things • and, in this sense, all beings have their laws, Go'd has his laws, the niaterial universe has its laws, intelli gences superior to man have their laws, animals have thoir laws, man has his laws. In this sense, the idea of a command proceeding from a superior to an inferior is not necessarily involved in the term law. It is frequently thus used to denote
simply a statement of' a constant relation of phe nomena. The laws of science, thus, are but gene ralized statements of observed facts. "It is a per version of language," ssys Paley, "to assign any law as the efficient operative cause of any thing. A law presupposes an nett: this is only the nmde according to which an agent proceeds." In its relation to human affairs there is a brosd use of the term, in which it denotes any of those rules and methods by which a society compels or restrains the action of its members. Here the idea of a command is more generally obvious, and has usually- been thought an essential element in the notion of human law.
A distinotion is to he observed in the outset be tween the abstract and the ooucrete meaning of the word. That which is usually intended by the term "laws" is not coextensivo with that which is intended by the term "law." In the broadest sense which it bears when used in the abstract, law is a science. It treats of the theory of gov ernment, the relation of states to each other and to individuals, and the rights and obligations of states, of individuals, and of artificial persons and local communities among themselves and to each other.
3. An analysis of tho science of law presents a view, first, of the rights of persons, distinguishing them as natural persons and artificial persons, or bodies politio or corporations. These rights are deemed either absolute, as relating to the enjoy ment of personal security, liberty, and of private property. or, ( n the other hand, as relative,—that is, arising out of the relation in which several per sons stand. These relations aro either,first, pub lic or political, viz.: the relation of magistrates and people; or, second, are private, as the relations uf master and servant, husband and wife, parent and child, guardian and ward, to which rnight be added relations arising out of private contracts, such as partnership, principal and agent, and the like. 'Under the bead of tho rights of persons as arising out of public relations may be discussed the con stitution and polity of the state, the distribution of powers among the various departments of the government, the political status of individuals, as aliens, citizens, and the like.