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SECT. III.

PART II. thing with himself, if this may be done without any detriment to CHAP. III. him. Every one may breathe the air of the atmosphere, enjoy the light and heat of the fun, pass on the highway, and navigate the high fea with mutual freedom from harm or moleftation.

The right that refults from occupancy is no more than that of poffeffion, beginning and ceafing with the act of occupying the fubject to the extent defcribed: So that, as this right does not extend to the prohibition of any act by which the occupier is not aggrieved, it evidently does not preclude any one from resting on the fame ground after the first occupier has removed from it; nor preclude a fecond perfon from drinking of the fame spring, after the first has ceafed drinking; or from having recourse to the fame cover, after it has been abandoned by a former occupier.

As the effect of occupancy, therefore, ceafes with the actual ufe, it does not amount to property, or to any right fuppofed to continue during the intermiffion of fuch actual use.

No right in one perfon to command the fervices of another can arife from any title of occupancy, fuppofed to take place without the confent of the perfon whofe fervices are required. To occuРУ the service of another without his confent, implies the use of force to obtain fuch fervice. Force fo employed amounts to an injury; and. instead of conftituting a right, may be refifted on the most evident principles of the law of felf-defence.

It is justly held to be a public intereft, that fair poffeffion in every instance should be as little precarious as poffible; and upon

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this account mankind willingly enter into conventions, by which PART II. fair poffeffion of a certain duration is admitted as property.

The duration of fuch poffeffion in the laws of different countries is termed prescription, and was unequal in the jurifprudence of different nations, and in respect to the occupancy of different fubjects. By the antient law of the Romans, respecting fome fubjects, a fair poffeffion of three years amounted to prefcription. In our law and refpecting the fubject of land estate, forty years fair poffeffion is required to the fame effect.

It is a maxim in the law of nature felf-evident and uncontroverted, that all subjects unoccupied and unappropriated are open to the first occupier. If, therefore, by the state of nature, it be meant to design a state in which nothing is yet occupied or appropriated; or if we hold the negation of any right to be an equality of right, as if we should say, that the dead are all equally alive, or that fuch as have nothing are all equally rich; the maxim of Mr Hobbes may be admitted, so far as it relates to matters of adventitious right: "That in the ftate of nature all men had equal right to all things."

There could be no rule, by which to fettle any rights which. did not exift; but, with refpect to the exifting rights of the perfon coeval with human nature, there certainly was an existing rule, That no one was entitled to injure or moleft his neighbour. To this rule mankind have at all times reforted; and by this rule they have generally been governed, notwithstanding the occafional irruptions of force and violence. When they are at any in a state of war, this proceeds not from the want of an amicable rule, by which to decide their differences, but from the influence

time

CHAP. III.
SECT. VIII.

of

PART II. of paffion or error, which inclines fome one or more of the parties to infringe the rule.

CHAP. III
SECT. VIII.

Mr Hobbes feems to make the state of war to confist, not fo much in actual hoftility, as in the want of any rule by which differences could be amicably terminated, and in the neceffary reference of parties to the decifion of force alone: But it is evident that the state of war thus defined did never actually exift; and that, in the midft of hoftilities feemingly the most implacable, nations refer to a standard of right, according to which they plead that the quarrel fhould be amicably terminated in their own favour.

Mankind, in every ftate, not only had original rights of the perfon, but could not continue to exist without proceeding to occupy and poffefs the means of fubfiftence and accommodation; and without being engaged in transactions which amounted to fome fpecies of convention or bargain: So that the supposition of a state, prior even to the origin of adventitious rights, must have been of fo fhort a duration as to resemble an abstraction of the mind, in which co exiftent circumftances are feparately conceived; rather than a period of history, during which they actually existed apart.

SECTION

SECTION IX.

Of Labour, and the Species of Right that refults from it.

LABOUR, confidered as the origin of a right, is an effort, by PART II. which a perfon may, for his own ufe, fabricate, procure, or im- CHAP. III. prove any unoccupied and unappropriated subject.

It is evident that, by the law of nature, a perfon is not permitted to labour on a fubject occupied, because his labour may be a detriment to the occupier; nor is he permitted to labour on a fubject appropriated without the confent of the proprietor.

Under this title of labour is fuppofed an effort productive of fome permanent effect, fome fruit of invention, of skill, or of power any way applied; and the labourer having, by the law of nature, an original right to the use of his talents or powers, has, by evident confequence, a right to the effects produced by any of their applications.

SECT. IX.

PART II

CHAP. III,
SECT IX.

As the right of poffeffion continues during the continuance of Occupancy, fo the right acquired by labour continues together with the fubject produced, and belongs to the producer, until he himself fhall confent to forego, or transfer it to another.

The right, therefore, which is thus acquired, comes up to the idea of property. It is a right in the labourer, to the exclusive ufe of his powers, and of their lawful effects, even during the intermiffions of that ufe.

The right acquired by labour does not determine with poffeffion: This may be discontinued during any period, and may be time refumed again: If the fubject be moveable, and during any miflaid, it may be recovered wherever it is found; if in the poffeffion of another, that other may be lawfully forced to reflore it.

It may be argued, however, that as the right of property thus originating in labour is limited to the actual effect which that labour has produced; and, as it is not in the power of man to produce any fubftance, he cannot by his labour acquire a property in any such subject whatever. Human labour may combine materials together, or give to a fubftance fome new modification or form; and fo far the right of the labourer extends: But, as the fubftance itfelf is not an effect of his labour, whenever he fhall ceafe to ufe it, the fubftance fhall be open to the first occupier.

If any difficulty be fuppofed to arife from fuch fubtilties of argumentation, it may be removed by obferving, that, although

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