Ifnowweturnagaintothepoliticalquestion，fromwhichwediverged，weseethatwehaveobtainedfromtheprecedingdiscussiononeofthecriteriaofthejusticeoflawswhichwewereseeking——viz。thattheymustavoidrunningcountertonaturalandnormalexpectations——:butweseeatthesametimethatthecriterioncannotbemadedefiniteinitsapplicationtoprivateconduct，anditiseasytoshowthatthereisthesameindefinitenessandconsequentdifficultyinapplyingittolegislation。ForLawitselfisamainsourceofnaturalexpectations；and，sinceinordinarytimesthealterationsinlawareverysmallinproportiontotheamountunaltered，thereisalwaysanaturalexpectationthattheexistinglawswillbemaintained:andalthoughthisis，ofcourse，anindefiniteanduncertainexpectationinasocietylikeours，wherelawsarecontinuallybeingalteredbylawfulauthority，itissufficientforpeopleingeneraltorelyuponinarrangingtheirconcerns，investingtheirmoney，choosingtheirplaceofabode，theirtradeandprofession，etc。Hencewhensuchexpectationsaredisappointedbyachangeinthelaw，thedisappointedpersonscomplainofinjustice，anditistosomeextentadmittedthatjusticerequiresthattheyshouldbecompensatedforthelossthusincurred。Butsuchexpectationsareofalldegreesofdefinitenessandimportance，andgenerallyextendmorewidelyastheydecreaseinvalue，liketheripplesmadebythrowingastoneintoapond，sothatitispracticallyimpossibletocompensatethemall:atthesametime，Iknownointuitiveprinciplebywhichwecouldseparatevalidclaimsfrominvalid，anddistinguishinjusticefromsimplehardship。
[1]
Butevenifthisdifficultywereovercomefurtherreflectionmust，Ithink，showthatthecriterionabovegivenisincompleteorimperfectlystated:otherwiseitwouldappearthatnooldlawcouldbeunjust，sincelawsthathaveexistedforalongtimemustcreatecorrespondingexpectations。ButthisiscontrarytoCommonSense:aswearecontinuallybecomingconvincedthatoldlawsareunjuste。g。lawsestablishingslavery:indeed，thiscontinuallyrecurringconvictionseemstobeoneofthegreatsourcesofchangeinthelawsofaprogressivesociety。
Perhapswemaysaythattherearenaturalexpectationswhichgrowupfromotherelementsofthesocialorder，independentofandsopossiblyconflictingwithlaws:andthatwecallrulesunjustwhichgocountertothese。Thuse。g。primogenitureappearstomanyunjust，becauseallthelandowner’schildrenarebroughtupinequallyluxurioushabits，andshareequallythepaternalcareandexpenditure，andsotheinequalityofinheritanceseemsparadoxicalandharsh。Still，wecannotexplaineverycaseinthisway:forexample，theconvictionthatslaveryisunjustcanhardlybetracedtoanythingintheestablishedorderoftheslave-holdingsociety，butseemstoariseinadifferentway。
Thetruthis，thisnotionof`naturalexpectations’isworsethanindefinite:theambiguityofthetermconcealsafundamentalconflictofideas，whichappearsmoreprofoundandfar-reachinginitsconsequencesthemoreweexamineit。Fortheword`natural’，asusedinthisconnexion，coversandconcealsthewholechasmbetweentheactualandtheideal——whatisandwhatoughttobe。Aswebeforenoticed，thetermseems，asordinarilyused，tocontainthedistinctideasof1thecommonasopposedtotheexceptional，and2theoriginalorprimitiveascontrastedwiththeresultoflaterconventionsandinstitutions。