Kitap 3
1282b
But the difficulty first mentionedViz. that in whatever class sovereignty is vested, some hardships will result, 1281a 14 ff. proves nothing else so clearly as that it is proper for the laws when rightly laid down to be sovereign, while the ruler or rulers in office should have supreme powers over matters as to which the laws are quite unable to pronounce with precision because of the difficulty of making a general rule to cover all cases. We have not however yet ascertained at all what particular character a code of laws correctly laid down ought to possess, but the difficulty raised at the startSee 1281a 36. still remains;Probably this clause should stand after the next, though—constitution (which will be a parenthesis), and should run but 〈the difficulty is there〉 for necessarily—states. for necessarily the laws are good or bad, just or unjust, simultaneously with and similarly to the constitutions of states (though of course it is obvious that the laws are bound to be adapted to the constitution); yet if so, it is clear that the laws in conformity with the right constitutions must necessarily be just and those in conformity with the divergentThe usual rendering is perverted, but the Greek term is more neutral. forms of constitution unjust.
