particular laws, would be called coercion.

An enactment, then, which in ordinary language is called a Coercion Act,
has one or both of the two following characteristics.[25] It is an Act
which either enforces some rule of law (e.g., the law that tenants must
pay their rent, or that trades unionists must not molest artisans who
accept lower wages than the scale prescribed by the union), which does
not command the moral assent of the society or people among whom it is
enforced, or else constrains obedience to law by some exceptional and
arbitrary mode of procedure. Now the general prejudice against an Act
which has either or both of these characteristics is within certain
limits justifiable on grounds of good sense. Laws derive three-fourths
of their force not from the fears of law-breakers, but from the assent
of law-keepers; and legislation should, as a rule, correspond with the
moral sentiment of the people. The maxim _quid leges sine moribus_,
though it should always be balanced by the equally important maxim _quid
mores sine legibus_, is one which no legislator dares neglect with
impunity, and a law permanently at variance with wide moral feeling
needs repeal or modification. It is also true that exceptional and
arbitrary legislation is, simply because it is exceptional and
arbitrary, open to suspicion. If it be desirable that personal liberty
should be protected by the writ of Habeas Corpus, a suspension of the
Habeas Corpus Act is on the face of it an evil. If it is not desirable
that officers of the army should suddenly and without legal training
exercise the power of judges, the establishment of martial law is in
itself a great, though it may be a necessary calamity. Legislation,
which has received the odious name of coercion, has frequently (though
not always) exhibited one or both of the characteristics which render it
fairly obnoxious to that designation. The objection, therefore, to
Coercion Acts is on the face of it not unreasonable. What are the