That moral approval--by which I understand that emotion of which moral praise or reward is the outward manifestation--is a kind of retributive kindly emotion and as such allied to gratitude, will probably be admitted without much hesitation.[98] Its friendly character is not, like the hostile character of moral disapproval, disguised by any apparently contradictory facts. To confer a benefit upon a person is not generally regarded as wrong, unless, indeed, it involves an encroachment on somebody's rights or is contrary to the feeling of justice. And that moral approval sometimes bestows its favours upon undeserving {96} individuals for the merits of others, can no more invalidate the fact that it is essentially directed towards the cause of pleasure, than the occasional infliction of punishments upon innocent individuals invalidates the fact that moral disapproval is essentially directed against the cause of pain. Unmerited rewards are explicable on grounds analogous to those to which we have traced unmerited punishments. [Footnote 98: The relationship between gratitude and moral approval has been recognised by Hartley (_Observations on Man_, i. 520) and Adam Smith (_Theory of Moral Sentiments_, _passim_).] The doctrine of family solidarity leads, not only to common responsibility for crimes, but to common enjoyment of merits. In Madagascar, exemption from punishment was claimed by the descendants of persons who had rendered any particular service to the sovereign or the State, as also by other branches of the family, on the same plea.[99] According to Chinese ideas, the virtuous conduct of any individual will result, not only in prosperity to himself, but in a certain quantity of happiness to his posterity, unless indeed the personal wickedness of some of the descendants neutralise the benefits which would otherwise accrue from the virtue of the ancestor;[100] and, conversely, the Chinese Government confers titles of nobility upon the dead parents of a distinguished son.[101] The idea that the dead share in _punya_ or _pâpa_, that is, the merit or demerit of the living, and that the happiness of a man in the next life depends on the good works of his descendants, was early familiar to the civilised natives of India; almost all legal deeds of gift contain the formula that the gift is made "for the increase of the _punya_ of the donor and that of his father and mother."[102] [Footnote 99: Ellis, _History of Madagascar_, 376.] [Footnote 100: Giles, _Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio_, i. 426, n. 3; ii. 384, n. 63. Doolittle, _Social Life of the Chinese_, ii. 398.] [Footnote 101: Giles, _op. cit._ i. 305, n. 6. Wells Williams, _Middle Kingdom_, i. 422.] [Footnote 102: Barth, _Religions of India_, p. 52, n. 4.] But the vicarious efficacy of good deeds is not necessarily restricted to the members of the same family.