Leaving the school, we find ourselves citizens of the state, members of society. But we do not go into society like an ax-man in a frontier forest to clear a place for his house, his fence, and his field. Methods of conduct are already prescribed, lines of action are already fixed, and the laws which claim our obedience are already formulated. Society is an organism of mutually dependent members; the object of it is the equity of all, the welfare of all, and the liberty of all. Equity, liberty, welfare do not come by accident. Men cannot reach them out of touch and contact with one another. They are only possible to men living together, and only possible in conformity with certain conditions, and in the observance of certain laws. These laws lie folded in the nature of men as social beings. They are fundamental, and Aristotle saw them when he said, “man is by nature a political animal.” The germs of government and law are in the depths of every man’s being, as the germs of the oak are in the acorn. Wise men, living in society, have seen the truth of society, made up of the relations subsisting among people living together. Accompanying these relations, and counterparts of them, they have discovered the laws necessary to insure the equity, liberty, and welfare of all. These laws have been embodied in constitutions, enactments, and statutes. To carry out these laws and to make them prevail, certain institutions have been established, a body of men whose duty it is to execute the laws, a Judiciary, whose duty it is to interpret and expound the laws, and a legislative body, whose duty it is to repeal old laws that did not work well, and to frame new laws to meet the exigencies of new conditions. To protect the rights of all, certain penalties have been made to accompany the violations of laws. To make these penalties real, and to inflict them upon the proper parties, courts and jails and penitentiaries have been established.