L — Loix civiles & ecclésiastiques
Original French
On a trouvé dans les papiers d’un jurisconsulte ces notes, qui méritent peut-être un peu d’examen.
Que jamais aucune loi ecclésiastique n’ait de force, que lorsqu’elle aura la sanction expresse du gouvernement. C’est par ce moyen qu’Athènes & Rome n’eurent jamais de querelles religieuses.
Ces querelles sont le partage des nations barbares, ou devenues barbares.
Que le magistrat seul puisse permettre ou prohiber le travail les jours de fête, parce qu’il n’appartient pas à des prêtres de défendre à des hommes de cultiver leurs champs.
Que tout ce qui concerne les mariages dépende uniquement du magistrat, & que les prêtres s’en tiennent à l’auguste fonction de les bénir.
Que le prêt à intérêt soit purement un objet de la loi civile, parce qu’elle seule préside au commerce.
Que tous les ecclésiastiques soient soumis en tous les cas au gouvernement, parce qu’ils sont sujets de l’état.
Que jamais on n’ait le ridicule honteux de payer à un prêtre étranger la premiére année du revenu d’une terre, que des citoyens ont donnée à un prêtre concitoyen.
Qu’aucun prêtre ne puisse jamais ôter à un citoyen la moindre prérogative, sous prétexte que ce citoyen est pécheur, parce que le prêtre pécheur doit prier pour les pécheurs, & non les juger.
Que les magistrats, les laboureurs & les prêtres, payent également les charges de l’état, parce que tous appartiennent également à l’état.
Qu’il n’y ait qu’un poids, une mesure, une coutume.
Que les suplices des criminels soient utiles. Un homme pendu n’est bon à rien, & un homme condamné aux ouvrages publics sert encor la patrie, & est une leçon vivante.
Que toute loi soit claire, uniforme & précise. L’interpréter c’est presque toûjours la corrompre.
Que rien ne soit infame que le vice.
Que les impôts ne soient jamais que proportionels.
Que la loi ne soit jamais en contradiction avec l’usage. Car si l’usage est bon, la loi ne vaut rien.
Musean translation
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation of the 73 articles in the 1764 first edition, made directly from the French and reviewed against the scan-collated French text. The author’s notes, quotations and verse are retained. Historical ethnic labels, including offensive terms, are retained from the 1764 text.
The following notes were found among a jurist’s papers; perhaps they deserve a little examination.
Let no ecclesiastical law ever have force unless expressly sanctioned by the government. It was by this means that Athens and Rome never had religious quarrels.
Such quarrels are the lot of barbarous nations, or nations that have become barbarous.
Let the magistrate alone have power to permit or forbid work on feast days, because it is not for priests to forbid men to cultivate their fields.
Let everything concerning marriages depend solely on the magistrate, and let priests confine themselves to the august function of blessing them.
Let lending at interest be purely a matter for civil law, because civil law alone governs commerce.
Let all ecclesiastics be subject to the government in every case, because they are subjects of the state.
Let us never commit the shameful absurdity of paying a foreign priest the first year’s revenue from an estate that citizens have given to a priest who is their fellow citizen.
Let no priest ever be able to deprive a citizen of the slightest prerogative on the pretext that this citizen is a sinner, because a priest, himself a sinner, must pray for sinners, not judge them.
Let magistrates, plowmen, and priests bear the charges of the state equally, because all belong equally to the state.
Let there be only one weight, one measure, one customary law.
Let the punishments of criminals be useful. A hanged man is good for nothing, while a man sentenced to public works still serves his country and is a living lesson.
Let every law be clear, uniform, and precise. To interpret it is almost always to corrupt it.
Let nothing be infamous but vice.
Let taxes always be proportional.
Let the law never contradict established practice. For if the practice is good, the law is worthless.
Plain English translation
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Plain English translation of the same 73 articles, made directly from the French and reviewed against the scan-collated French text. The author’s notes, quotations and verse are retained. Historical ethnic labels, including offensive terms, are retained from the 1764 text.
Someone found these notes among a legal scholar’s papers. They may be worth a little consideration.
Church laws must never take effect unless the government specifically approves them. That’s how Athens and Rome kept free of religious disputes.
Such disputes are for barbarous nations, or nations that have turned barbarous.
Only civil officials should decide whether people may work on holy days. Priests have no business stopping people from cultivating their fields.
Civil officials alone should control everything to do with marriage. Priests should do no more than perform the solemn duty of blessing it.
Civil law alone should govern lending at interest, since it alone governs trade.
The clergy must answer to the government in every case. They’re subjects of the state.
Never pay a foreign priest the first year’s income from land that citizens have given a priest of their own country. That’s shamefully ridiculous.
No priest should ever strip a citizen of even the smallest right for being a sinner. A sinful priest’s job is to pray for sinners, not judge them.
Officials, farmers, and priests should all share equally in paying the state’s expenses. They all belong equally to the state.
Have just one weight, one measure, and one customary law.
Make criminals’ punishments useful. Hanging a man makes him useless. Sentencing him to public works lets him go on serving his country. He remains a living lesson.
Make every law clear, uniform, and exact. Interpreting it almost always distorts it.
Let only wrongdoing bring disgrace.
Never levy taxes that aren’t proportional.
Never let the law clash with established practice. If the practice is good, the law is no good.
About this section
L — Loix civiles & ecclésiastiques is part of Pocket Philosophical Dictionary by Voltaire. This page sets the French original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is article 54 of 73 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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