God Arises
Religion and Society
~ 430 ~
Only then can one wield the golden scales of justice,
by which the rights of the people are weighed, and
by which even the sovereign’s rights are
safeguarded.” “What, am I too subject to the law?”
demanded an extremely incensed King James. “To
say so is treason.” Quoting Bracton, Lord Coke
replied: “The monarch is subject to no man; but he
is subject to God and the Law.”
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The fact is, when we subtract the divine element
from justice, we are left with no logical grounds for
saying that the monarch (or anyone else for that
matter) is subject to the law. The same goes for
groups of individuals. When the law has been
devised by a number of human minds; when it is by
their sanction that laws are exacted; when they, as
legislators, can annul the law or maintain it at will:
can there be any basis on which they themselves
may be subject to that law?
When man himself is the law-maker, he is entitled
to assume the powers of lord and sovereign. He
himself is God. He himself is the law. How is it
possible then that he be made subject to the law?
