“The Mosaic laws do not bind, and were never intended to bind, other nations. But this does not detract from the value of the Hebrew jurisprudence, as a philosophical and practical study, any more than the fact, that the Roman and British laws are not obligatory on us, detracts from the value of the Roman and British jurisprudence. We are at liberty to borrow what is good in the laws of other nations, however remote from us in time or space. My neighbor’s lantern may be very useful to me, though I do not follow by its light exactly the same path which he pursued. In like manner, the laws of a foreign state may afford a highly advantageous light, though we do not copy everything which they contain. It is impossible to survey the legislative policy of the Hebrews without feeling the highest admiration of its wisdom, equity, and benevolence. It was a policy, directed not to foreign conquest, but to the culture and benefit of their own territory; a policy founded on the arts of peace. If we were better acquainted with the comprehensive and far extended legislative knowledge of this people, very probably our own political system, so far at least as connected with agriculture, and as directed to the peaceful increase of our internal strength as a nation, might receive material improvement.” — E.C. Wines, Commentaries on the Laws of the Ancient Hebrews; With an Introductory Essay on Civil Society and Government (1853), p. 124