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Commens
Digital Companion to C. S. Peirce
Law
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1904 [c.] | Draft of Nichols Review [C] | MS [R] 1476:10

…the essence of law consists in its being a conditional truth about the indefinite future, and never can become matter of actual fact. Or we may say it is such a truth that upon the knowledge of it a perpetual or indefinitely lasting conditional expectation may be founded. We say “indefinitely lasting” because as a general rule our laws are vaguely understood to endure only so long as “the present state of things” continues; but that state of things may endure forever, or if it ceases, may return some day.

Citation
‘Law’. Term in M. Bergman & S. Paavola (Eds.), The Commens Dictionary: Peirce's Terms in His Own Words. New Edition. Retrieved from http://www.commens.org/dictionary/term/law/page, 01.07.2022.