become the
basis of law, may be gathered from the way in which the process goes on
in the daily life about us.

No sooner has the judgment escaped us--a winged word from our
own lips--than it impinges on the judgment similarly flying
forth to do its work from our next-door neighbor, and if the
subject is an exciting one the air is soon full of the winged
forces clashing, deflecting or reinforcing one another as the
case may be, and generally settling down toward some
preponderating opinion which is society's judgment on the case.
But in the course of the conflict many of the original
judgments are modified. Discussion, further consideration,
above all, the mere influence of our neighbour's opinion reacts
on each of us, with a stress that is proportioned to various
mental and moral characteristics of our own, our clearness of
vision, our firmness, or, perhaps, obstinacy of character, our
self-confidence, and so forth. Thus, the controversy will tend
to leave its mark, small or great, on those who took part in
it. It will tend to modify their modes of judgment, confirming
one, perhaps, in his former ways, shaping the confidence of
another, opening the eyes of a third. Similarly, it will tend
to set a precedent for future judgments. It will affect what
men say and think on the next question that turns up. It adds
its weight, of one grain it may be, to some force that is
turning the scale of opinion and preparing society for some new
departure. In any case, we have here in miniature at work every
day before our eyes the essential process by which moral
judgments arise and grow.[257]

c) _Institutions._--An institution, according to Sumner, consists of a
concept and a structure. The concept defines the purpose, interest, or
function of the institution. The structure embodies the idea of the
institution and furnishes the instrumentalities through which the idea
is put into action. The process by which purposes, whether they are
individual or collective, are embodied in structures is a continuous
one. But the structures thus formed are not physical, at least not
entirely so. Structure, in the sense that Sumner uses the term, belongs,
as he says, to a category of its own. "It is a category in which custom
produces continuity, coherence, and consistency, so that the word
'structure' may properly be appl