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Chapter V - Of Property
25. Whether we consider natural Reason, which
tells us that Men, being once born, have a right to their Preservation,
and consequently to Meat and Drink, and such other things, as Nature
affords for their Subsistence: or Revelation, which gives us an
account of those Grants God made of the World to Adam, and to Noah,
and his Sons, 'tis very clear, that God, as King David says, Psal.
CXV. xvi. has given the Earth to the Children of Men, given it to
Mankind in common. But this being supposed, it seems to some a very
great difficulty, how any one should ever come to have a Property
in any thing: I will not content myself to answer, That if it be
difficult to make out Property, upon a supposition, that God gave
the World to Adam and his Posterity in common; it is impossible
that any Man, but one universal Monarch, should have any Property,
upon a supposition, that God gave the World to Adam and his Heirs
in Succession, exclusive of all the rest of his Posterity. But I
shall endeavour to shew, how Men might come to have a property in
several parts of that which God gave to Mankind in common, and that
without any express Compact of all the Commoners.
26. God, who hath given the World to Men in
common, hath also given them reason to make use of it to the best
advantage of Life, and convenience. The Earth, and all that is therein,
is given to Men for the Support and Comfort of their being. And
though all the Fruits it naturally produces, and Beasts it feeds,
belong to Mankind in common, as they are produced by the spontaneous
hand of Nature; and nobody has originally a private Dominion, exclusive
of the rest of Mankind, in any of them, as they are thus in their
natural state: yet being given for the use of Men, there must of
necessity be a means to appropriate them some way or other before
they can be of any use, or at all beneficial to any particular men.
The Fruit, or Venison, which nourishes the wild Indian, who knows
no Inclosure, and is still a Tenant in common, must be his, and
so his, i.e. a part of him, that another can no longer have any
right to it, before it can do him any good for the support of his
Life.
27. Though the Earth, and all inferior Creatures
be common to all Men, yet every Man has a Property in his own Person.
This no Body has any Right to but himself. The Labour of his Body,
and the Work of his Hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever,
then, he removes out of the State that Nature hath provided and
left it in, he hath mixed his Labour with it, and joyned to it something
that is his own, and thereby makes it his Property. It being by
him removed from the common state Nature placed it in, it hath by
this labour something annexed to it, that excludes the common right
of other Men. For this Labour being the unquestionable Property
of the Labourer, no Man but he can have a right to what that is
once joyned to, at least where there is enough, and as good left
in common for others.
28. He that is nourished by the Acorns he pickt
up under an Oak, or the Apples he gathered from the Trees in the
Wood, has certainly appropriated them to himself. No body can deny
but the nourishment is his. I ask then, when did they begin to be
his? When he digested? Or when he eat? Or when he boiled? Or when
he brought them home? Or when he pickt them up? And 'tis plain,
if the first gathering made them not his, nothing else could. That
labour put a distinction between them and common. That added something
to them more than Nature, the common Mother of all, had done, and
so they became his private right. And will any one say he had no
right to those Acorns or Apples he thus appropriated because he
had not the consent of all Mankind to make them his? Was it a Robbery
thus to assume to himself what belonged to all in Common? If such
a consent as that was necessary, Man had starved, notwithstanding
the Plenty God had given him. We see in commons, which remain so
by Compact, that 'tis the taking any part of what is common, and
removing it out of the state Nature leaves it in, which begins the
Property; without which the Common is of no use. And the taking
of this or that part does not depend on the express consent of all
the Commoners. Thus, the Grass my Horse has bit; the Turfs my Servant
has cut; and the Ore I have digg'd in any place where I have a right
to them in common with others, become my Property without the assignation
or consent of any body. The labour that was mine, removing them
out of that common state they were in, hath fixed my Property in
them
29. By making an explicit consent of every
Commoner necessary to any ones appropriating to himself any part
of what is given in common, Children or Servants could not cut the
Meat which their Father or Master had provided for them in common,
without assigning to every one his peculiar part. Though the Water
running in the Fountain be every ones, yet who can doubt, but that
in the Pitcher is his only who drew it out? His labour hath taken
it out of the hands of Nature where it was common, and belong'd
equally to all her Children, and hath thereby appropriated it to
himself.
30. Thus this Law of reason makes the Deer
that Indian's who hath killed it; it is allowed to be his goods
who hath bestowed his labour upon it, though before, it was the
common right of every one. And amongst those who are counted the
Civiliz'd part of Mankind, who have made and multiplied positive
Laws to determine Property, this original Law of Nature for the
beginning of Property, in what was before common, still takes place;
and by vertue thereof, what Fish any one catches in the Ocean, that
great and still remaining Common of Mankind; or what Ambergriese
any one takes up here, is by the Labour that removes it out of that
common state Nature left it in, made his Property who takes that
pains about it. And even amongst us the Hare that any one is Hunting,
is thought his who pursues her during the Chase. For being a Beast
that is still looked upon as common, and no Man's private Possession;
whoever has employed so much labour about any of that kind, as to
find and pursue her, has thereby removed her from the state of Nature,
wherein she was common, and hath begun a Property.
31. It will, perhaps, be objected to this,
That if gathering the Acorns or other Fruits of the Earth, &c.
makes a right to them, then any one may ingross as much as he will.
To which I Answer, Not so. The same Law of Nature, that does by
this means give us Property, does also bound that Property too.
God has given us all things richly, 1 Tim. vi. 17. is the Voice
of Reason confirmed by Inspiration. But how far has he given it
us? To enjoy. As much as any one can make use of to any advantage
of life before it spoils; so much he may by his labour fix a Property
in. Whatever is beyond this, is more than his share, and belongs
to others. Nothing was made by God for Man to spoil or destroy.
And thus considering the plenty of natural Provisions there was
a long time in the World, and the few spenders, and to how small
a part of that provision the industry of one Man could extend it
self, and ingross it to the prejudice of others; especially keeping
within the bounds set by reason of what might serve for his use;
there could be then little room for Quarrels or Contentions about
Property so establish'd.
32. But the chief matter of Property being
now not the Fruits of the Earth, and the Beasts that subsist on
it, but the Earth it self; as that which takes in and carries with
it all the rest: I think it is plain, that Property in that too
is acquired as the former. As much Land as a Man Tills, Plants,
Improves, Cultivates, and can use the Product of, so much is his
Property. He by his Labour does, as it were, inclose it from the
Common. Nor will it invalidate his right to say, Every body else
has an equal Title to it; and therefore he cannot appropriate, he
cannot inclose, without the Consent of all his Fellow-Commoners,
all Mankind. God, when he gave the World in common to all Mankind,
commanded Man also to labour, and the penury of his Condition required
it of him. God and his Reason commanded him to subdue the Earth,
i.e. improve it for the benefit of Life, and therein lay out something
upon it that was his own, his labour. He that, in Obedience to this
Command of God, subdued, tilled, and sowed any part of it, thereby
annexed to it something that was his Property, which another had
no Title to, nor could without injury take from him.
33. Nor was this appropriation of any parcel
of Land, by improving it, any prejudice to any other Man, since
there was still enough, and as good left; and more than the yet
unprovided could use. So that in effect, there was never the less
left for others because of his inclosure for himself. For he that
leaves as much as another can make use of, does as good as take
nothing at all. No Body could think himself injur'd by the drinking
of another Man, though he took a good Draught, who had a whole River
of the same Water left him to quench his thirst. And the case of
Land and Water, where there is enough of both, is perfectly the
same.
34. God gave the World to Men in Common; but
since he gave it them for their benefit, and the greatest Conveniencies
of Life they were capable to draw from it, it cannot be supposed
he meant it should always remain common and uncultivated. He gave
it to the use of the Industrious and Rational (and Labour was to
be his Title to it;) not to the Fancy or Covetousness of the Quarrelsome
and Contentious. He that had as good left for his Improvement, as
was already taken up, needed not complain, ought not to meddle with
what was already improved by another's Labour: If he did, 'tis plain
he desired the benefit of another's Pains, which he had no right
to, and not the Ground which God had given him in common with others
to labour on, and whereof there was as good left as that already
possessed, and more than he knew what to do with, or his Industry
could reach to.
35. 'Tis true, in Land that is common in England,
or any other Country, where there are Plenty of People under Government,
who have Money and Commerce, no one can inclose or appropriate any
part, without the consent of all his Fellow-Commoners: because this
is left common by Compact, i.e. by the Law of the Land, which is
not to be violated. And though it be Common, in respect of some
Men, it is not so to all Mankind; but is the joint property of this
Countrey, or this Parish. Besides, the remainder, after such inclosure,
would not be as good to the rest of the Commoners as the whole was,
when they could all make use of the whole: whereas in the beginning
and first peopling of the great Common of the World, it was quite
otherwise. The Law Man was under, was rather for appropriating.
God commanded, and his Wants forced him to labour. That was his
Property, which could not be taken from him where-ever he had fixed
it. And hence subduing or cultivating the Earth, and having Dominion,
we see are joyned together. The one gave Title to the other. So
that God, by commanding to subdue, gave Authority so far to appropriate.
And the Condition of Humane Life, which requires Labour and Materials
to work on, necessarily introduce private Possessions.
36. The measure of Property, Nature well set,
by the Extent of Mens Labour, and the Conveniency of Life: No Mans
Labour could subdue, or appropriate all: nor could his Enjoyment
consume more than a small part; so that it was impossible for any
Man, this way, to intrench upon the right of another, or acquire,
to himself, a Property, to the prejudice of his Neighbour, who would
still have room, for as good, and as large a Possession (after the
other had taken out his) as before it was appropriated. This measure
did confine every Man's Possession, to a very moderate Proportion,
and such as he might appropriate to himself, without Injury to any
Body in the first Ages of the World, when Men were more in danger
to be lost, by wandering from their Company, in the then vast Wilderness
of the Earth, than to be straitened for want of room to plant in.
And the same measure may be allowed still, without prejudice to
any Body, as full as the World seems. For supposing a Man, or Family,
in the state they were, at first peopling of the World by the Children
of Adam, or Noah; let him plant in some in-land, vacant places of
America, we shall find that the Possessions he could make himself,
upon the measures we have given, would not be very large, nor, even
to this day, prejudice the rest of Mankind, or give them reason
to complain, or think themselves injured by this Man's Incroachment,
though the Race of Men have now spread themselves to all the corners
of the World, and do infinitely exceed the small number was at the
beginning. Nay, the extent of Ground is of so little value, without
labour, that I have heard it affirmed that in Spain it self, a Man
may be permitted to plough, sow, and reap, without being disturbed,
upon Land he has no other Title to, but only his making use of it.
But, on the contrary, the Inhabitants think themselves beholden
to him, who, by his Industry on neglected, and consequently waste
Land, has increased the stock of Corn, which they wanted. But be
this as it will, which I lay no stress on; This I dare boldly affirm,
That the same Rule of Propriety, (viz.) that every Man should have
as much as he could make use of, would hold still in the World,
without straitning any body, since there is Land enough in the World
to suffice double the Inhabitants had not the Invention of Money,
and the tacit Agreement of Men to put a value on it, introduced
(by Consent) larger Possessions, and a Right to them; which, how
it has done, I shall, by and by, shew more at large.
37. This is certain, that in the beginning,
before the desire of having more than Men needed, had altered the
intrinsic value of things, which depends only on their usefulness
to the Life of Man; or had agreed, that a little piece of yellow
Metal, which would keep without wasting or decay, should be worth
a great piece of Flesh, or a whole heap of Corn; though Men had
a Right to appropriate, by their Labour, each one to himself, as
much of the things of Nature, as he could use: Yet this could not
be much, nor to the Prejudice of others, where the same plenty was
still left, to those who would use the same Industry. To which let
me add, that he who appropriates land to himself by his labour,
does not lessen but increase the common stock of mankind. For the
provisions serving to the support of humane life, produced by one
acre of inclosed and cultivated land, are (to speak much within
compasse) ten times more, than those, which are yeilded by an acre
of Land, of an equal richnesse, lyeing wast in common. And therefor
he, that incloses Land and has a greater plenty of the conveniencys
of life from ten acres, than he could have from an hundred left
to Nature, may truly be said, to give ninety acres to Mankind. For
his labour now supplys him with provisions out of ten acres, which
were but the product of an hundred lying in common. I have here
rated the improved land very low in making its product but as ten
to one, when it is much nearer an hundred to one. For I aske whether
in the wild woods and uncultivated wast of America left to Nature,
without any improvement, tillage or husbandry, a thousand acres
will yeild the needy and wretched inhabitants as many conveniencies
of life as ten acres of equally fertile land doe in Devonshire where
they are well cultivated?
Before the Appropriation of Land, he who gathered as much of the
wild Fruit, killed, caught, or larned, as many of the Beasts as
he could; he that so employed his Pains about any of the spontaneous
Products of Nature, as any way to alter them, from the state which
Nature put, them in, by placing any of his Labour on them, did thereby
acquire a Property in them: But if they perished, in his Possession,
without their due use; if the Fruits rotted, or the Venison putrified,
before he could spend it, he offended against the common Law of
Nature, and was liable to be punished; he invaded his Neighbour's
share, for he had no Right, farther than his Use called for any
of them, and they might serve to afford him Conveniencies of Life.
38. The same measures governed the Possession
of Land too: Whatsoever he tilled and reaped, laid up and made use
of, before it spoiled, that was his peculiar Right; whatsoever he
enclosed, and could feed, and make use of, the Cattle and Product
was also his. But if either the Grass of his Inclosure rotted on
the Ground, or the Fruit of his planting perished without gathering,
and laying up, this part of the Earth, notwithstanding his Inclosure,
was still to be looked on as Waste, and might be the Possession
of any other. Thus, at the beginning, Cain might take as much Ground
as he could till, and make it his own Land, and yet leave enough
to Abel's Sheep to feed on; a few Acres would serve for both their
Possessions. But as Families increased, and Industry inlarged their
Stocks, their Possessions inlarged with the need of them; but yet
it was commonly without any fixed property in the ground they made
use of, till they incorporated, settled themselves together, and
built Cities, and then, by consent, they came in time, to set out
the bounds of their distinct Territories, and agree on limits between
them and their Neighbours, and by Laws within themselves, settled
the Properties of those of the same Society. For we see, that in
that part of the World which was first inhabited, and therefore
like to be best peopled, even as low down as Abraham's time, they
wandred with their Flocks, and their Herds, which was their substance,
freely up and down; and this Abraham did, in a Country where he
was a Stranger. Whence it is plain, that at least, a great part
of the Land lay in common; that the Inhabitants valued it not, nor
claimed Property in any more than they made use of. But when there
was not room enough in the same place, for their Herds to feed together,
they, by consent, a Abraham and Lot did, Gen. xiii. 5. separated
and inlarged their pasture, where it best liked them. And for the
same Reason Esau went from his Father, and his Brother, and planted
in Mount Seir, Gen. xxxvi. 6.
39. And thus, without supposing any private
Dominion, and property in Adam, over all the World, exclusive of
all other Men, which can no way he proved, nor any ones Property
be made out from it; but supposing the World given as it was to
the Children of Men in common, we see how labour could make Men
distinct titles to several parcels of it, for their private uses;
wherein there could be no doubt of Right, no room for quarrel.
40. Nor is it so strange, as perhaps before
consideration it may appear, that the Property of labour should
be able to over-ballance the Community of Land. For 'tis Labour
indeed that puts the difference of value on every thing; and let
any one consider, what the difference is between an Acre of Land
planted with Tobacco, or Sugar, sown with Wheat or Barley; and an
Acre of the same Land lying in common, without any Husbandry upon
it, and he will find, that the improvement of labour makes the far
greater part of the value. I think it will be but a very modest
Computation to say, that of the Products of the Earth useful to
the Life of Man 9/10 are the effects of labour: nay, if we will
rightly estimate things as they come to our use, and cast up the
several Expenses about them, what in them is purely owing to Nature,
and what to labour, we shall find, that in most of them 99/100 are
wholly to be put on the account of labour.
41. There cannot be a clearer demonstration
of any thing, than several Nations of the Americans are of this,
who are rich in Land, and poor in all the Comforts of Life; whom
Nature having furnished as liberally as any other people, with the
materials of Plenty, i.e. a fruitful Soil, apt to produce in abundance,
what might serve for food, rayment, and delight; yet for want of
improving it by labour, have not one hundredth part of the Conveniencics
we enjoy: And a King of a large fruitful Territory there feeds,
lodges, and is clad worse than a day Labourer in England.
42. To make this a little clearer, let us but
trace some of the ordinary provisions of Life, through their several
progresses, before they come to our use, and see how much they receive
of their value from Humane Industry. Bread, Wine and Cloth, are
things of daily use, and great plenty, yet notwithstanding, Acorns,
Water, and Leaves, or Skins, must be our Bread, Drink and Clothing,
did not labour furnish us with these more useful Commodities. For
whatever Bread is more worth than Acorns, Wine than Water, and Cloth
or Silk than Leaves, Skins, or Moss, that is wholly owing to labour
and industry. The one of these being the Food and Rayment which
unassisted Nature furnishes us with; the other provisions which
our industry and pains prepare for us, which how much they exceed
the other in value, when any one hath computed, he will then see,
how much labour makes the far greatest part of the value of things,
we enjoy in this World: And the ground which produces the materials,
is scarce to be reckon'd in, as any, or at most, but a very small,
part of it; So little, that even amongst us, Land that is left wholly
to Nature, that hath no improvement of Pasturage, Tillage, or Planting,
is called, as indeed it is, wast; and we shall find the benefit
of it amount to little more than nothing. This shews, how much numbers
of men are to be preferd to largenesse of dominions, and that the
increase of lands and the right imploying of them is the great art
of government. And that Prince who shall be so wise and godlike
as by established laws of liberty to secure protection and incouragement
to the honest industry of Mankind against the oppression of power
and narrownesse of Party will quickly be too hard for his neighbours.
But this bye the bye. To return to the argument in hand.
43. An Acre of Land that bears here Twenty
Bushels of Wheat, and another in America, which, with the same Husbandry,
would do the like, are without doubt, of the same natural, intrinsick
Value. But yet the Benefit Mankind receives from the one, in a Year,
is worth 5 l. and from the other possibly not worth a Penny, if
all the Profit an Indian received from it were to be valued, and
sold here; at least, I may truly say, not 1/1000. 'Tis Labour then
which puts the greatest part of Value upon Land, without which it
would scarcely be worth any thing: 'tis to that we owe the greatest
part of all its useful Products: for all that the Straw, Bran, Bread,
of that Acre of Wheat, is more worth than the Product of an Acre
of as good Land, which lies wast, is all the Effect of Labour. For
'tis not barely the Plough-man's Pains, the Reaper's and Thresher's
Toil, and the Bakers Sweat, is to be counted into the Bread we eat;
the Labour of those who broke the Oxen, who digged and wrought the
Iron and Stones, who felled and framed the Timber imployed about
the Plough, Mill; Oxen, or any other Utensils, which are a vast
Number, requisite to this Corn, from its being seed to be sown to
its being made Bread, must all be charged on the account of Labour,
and received as an effect of that: Nature and the Earth furnished
only the almost worthless Materials, as in themselves. 'Twould be
a strange Catalogue of things, that Industry provided and made use
of, about every Loaf of Bread, before it came to our use, if we
could trace them; Iron, Wood, Leather, Bark, Timber, Stone, Bricks,
Coals, Lime, Cloth, Dying-Drugs, Pitch, Tar, Masts, Ropes, and all
the Materials made use of in the Ship, that brought any of the Commodities
made use of by any of the Workmen, to any part of the Work, all
which, 'twould be almost impossible, at least too long, to reckon
up.
44. From all which it is evident, that though
the things of Nature are given in common, yet Man (by being Master
of himself, and Proprietor of his own Person, and the actions or
Labour of it) had still in himself the great Foundation of Property;
and that which made up the great part of what he applied to the
Support or Comfort of his being, when Invention and Arts had improved
the conveniencies of Life, was perfectly his own, and did not belong
in common to others.
45. Thus Labour, in the Beginning, gave a Right
of Property, where-ever any one was pleased to employ it, upon what
was common, which remained, a long while, the far greater part,
and is yet more than Mankind makes use of. Men, at first, for the
most part, contented themselves with what un-assisted Nature Offered
to their Necessities: and though afterwards, in some parts of the
World, (where the Increase of People and Stock, with the Use of
Money) had made Land scarce, and so of some Value, the several Communities
settled the Bounds of their distinct Territories, and by Laws within
themselves, regulated the Properties of the private Men of their
Society, and so, by Compact and Agreement, settled the Property
which Labour and Industry began; and the Leagues that have been
made between several States and Kingdoms, either expressly or tacitly
disowning all Claim and Right to the Land in the others Possession,
have, by common Consent, given up their Pretences to their natural
common Right, which originally they had to those Countries, and
so have, by positive agreement, settled a Property amongst themselves,
in distinct Parts and parcels of the Earth: yet there are still
great Tracts of Ground to be found, which (the Inhabitants thereof
not having joined with the rest of Mankind, in the consent of the
Use of their common Money) lie waste, and are more than the People
who dwell on it, do, or can make use of, and so still lie in common.
Tho' this can scarce happen amongst that part of Mankind, that have
consented to the use of Money.
46. The greatest part of things really useful
to the Life of Man, and such as the necessity of subsisting made
the first Commoners of the World look after, as it doth the Americans
now, are generally things of short duration; such as, if they are
not consumed by use, will decay and perish of themselves: Gold,
Silver, and Diamonds are things, that Fancy or Agreement hath put
the Value on, more than real Use, and the necessary Support of Life.
Now of those good things which Nature hath provided in common, every
one had a Right (as hath been said) to as much as he could use,
and had a Property in all that he could effect with his Labour:
all that his Industry could extend to, to alter from the State Nature
had put it in, was his. He that gathered a Hundred Bushels of Acorns
or Apples, had thereby a Property in them; they were his Goods as
soon as gathered. He was only to look that he used them before they
spoiled; else he took more than his share, and robb'd others. And
indeed it was a foolish thing, as well as dishonest, to hoard up
more than he could make use of. If he gave away a part to anybody
else, so that it perished not uselesly in his Possession, these
he also made use of. And if he also bartered away Plumbs that would
have rotted in a Week, for Nuts that would last good for his eating
a whole year, he did no injury; he wasted not the common Stock;
destroyed no part of the portion of Goods that belonged to others,
so long as nothing perished uselessly in his hands. Again, if he
would give his Nuts for a piece of Metal, pleased with its colour;
or exchange his Sheep for Shells, or Wool for a sparkling Pebble
or a Diamond, and keep those by him all his Life, he invaded not
the Right of others, he might heap up as much of these durable things
as he pleased; the exceeding of the bounds of his just Property
not lying in the largeness of his Possession, but the perishing
of any thing uselesly in it.
47. And thus came in the use of Money, some
lasting thing that Men might keep without spoiling, and that by
mutual consent Men would take in exchange for the truly useful,
but perishable Supports of Life.
48. And as different degrees of Industry were
apt to give Men Possessions in different Proportions, so this Invention
of Money gave them the opportunity to continue to enlarge them.
For supposing an Island, separated from all possible Commerce with
the rest of the World, wherein there were but a hundred Families,
but there were Sheep, Horses and Cows, with other useful Animals,
wholsome Fruits, and Land enough for Corn for a hundred thousand
times as many, but nothing in the Island, either because of its
Commonness, or Perishableness, fit to supply the place of Money:
What reason could any one have there to enlarge his Possessions
beyond the use of his Family, and a plentiful supply to its Consumption,
either in what their own Industry produced, or they could barter
for like perishable, useful Commodities with others? Where there
is not something both lasting and scarce, and so valuable to be
hoarded up, there Men will not be apt to enlarge their Possessions
of Land, were it never so rich, never so free for them to take.
For I ask, What would a Man value Ten Thousand or an Hundred Thousand
Acres of excellent Land, ready cultivated, and well stocked too
with Cattle, in the middle of the in-land Parts of America, where
he had no hopes of Commerce with other Parts of the World, to draw
Money to him by the Sale of the Product? It would not be worth the
inclosing, and we should see him give up again to the wild Common
of Nature, whatever was more than would supply the Conveniencies
of Life, to be had there for him and his Family.
49. Thus in the beginning all the World was
America, and more so than that is now; for no such thing as Money
was any where known. Find out something that hath the Use and Value
of Money amongst his Neighbours, you shall see the same Man will
begin presently to enlarge his Possessions.
50. But since Gold and Silver, being little
useful to the Life of Man in proportion to Food, Rayment, and Carriage,
has its value only from the consent of Men, whereof Labour yet makes,
in great part, the measure, it is plain, that Men have agreed to
a disproportionate and unequal Possession of the Earth, they having
by a tacit and voluntary consent found out a way, how a man may
fairly possess more land than he himself can unse the product of,
by receiving in exchange for the overplus, Gold and Silver, which
may be hoarded up without injury to any one, these metalls not spoileing
or decaying in the hands of the possessor. This partage of things,
in an inequality of private possessions, men have made practicable
out of the bounds of Societie, and without compact, only by putting
a value on gold and silver and tacitly agreeing in the use of Money.
For in Governments the Laws regulate the right of property, and
the possession of land is determined by positive constitutions.
51. And thus, I think, it is very easie to
conceive, without any difficulty, how Labour could at first begin
a title of Property in the common things of Nature, and how the
spending it upon our uses bounded it. So that there could then be
no reason of quarrelling about Title, nor any doubt about the largeness
of Possession it gave. Right and conveniency went together; for
as a Man had a Right to all he could employ his Labour upon, so
he had no temptation to labour for more than he could make use of.
This left no room for Controversie about the Title, nor for Incroachment
on the Right of others; what Portion a Man carved to himself, was
easily seen; and it was useless as well as dishonest, to carve himself
too much, or take more than he needed.
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