Governments see that if ignorance of the law were allowed to excuse a man for any act whatever, it must excuse him for transgressing all statutes whatsoever, which he himself thinks inconsistent with his rights and liberties.
Spooner warns that allowing ignorance of the law as an excuse could undermine all legal statutes.
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Proud from victory, and with their swords in their hands, would they surrender their liberties to a private man?
The people considered their jurisprudence as a part of their inheritance.
It would also be making them consent to what they regard as the destruction of their own rights.
It would be a solecism and absurdity in government to allow such consequences as these.