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The most well-known maxim of Aleister Crowley must certainly be, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law." Although most commentators would claim that the old British occultist was speaking with an almost Kerryite nuance when he made that statement, it's safe to say that the majority outside the Crowleyite community have considered this priniciple to be a Very Bad Idea Indeed.
To those of us facing an upcoming property exam, however, Crowley's first principle begins to gain an almost unholy appeal. Forget its implied ideas of license or licentiousness. When one is busily trying to cram a melange of sixteenth-century common law tradition and 1940's legal realism into one's head; when one's outline looks like a crazy mass of seemingly unrelated charts; when one can't tell the head of a household from a fee-tail... well, the idea that the whole of the law can be summarized in four simple words seems damnably attractive.
Besides, no professor in the world could build a difficult hypothetical around just four words of code, could they?
Comments
1) I am not a Crowleyite.
2) The first time I read the quote, I thought it was saying something similar to Kant's 'act so that the maxim of your action can be a universal law.' Then I thought it must be saying the opposite. Now I'm not sure what it's saying.
Rendered unfit for philosophy, I better go back to reading the Chirelstein hornbook.
eytj omnwrgPosted by: PG | December 6, 2004 02:41 PM
I find in profoundly amusing that you've begun studying for property.
Posted by: Julie | December 6, 2004 09:43 PM