Page:An introduction to ethics.djvu/244

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INSTITUTIONS OF THE MORAL LIFE

his ability. Thus, both rights and duties are involved in the fulfilment of vocation in the state. The individual has a right to follow some worthy occupation in the state; but he is under an obligation to render good service in that vocation. The state is under an obligation to provide its citizens with opportunities of finding worthy callings and working in them; but it has the right to demand that they shall not abuse these opportunities. Hence rights and duties are strictly correlative. No individual has any right which does not imply a duty; and every obligation the state enforces involves duties which it cannot refuse to perform. The individual citizen claims as a right that his house should be protected from burglary and his country from invasion. But these rights imply the duties of paying rates to his municipality and taxes to his country, and, if need be, of giving personal military service in its defence. Conversely, when the state claims as a right that its citizens should pay taxes and give service, it recognises that it is its duty to advance, as far as in it lies, their legitimate interests. It is no mere form of words that appears on the passport to which the humblest citizen is entitled: "These are to request and require in the name of His Majesty all those whom it may concern, to allow … to pass freely and without let or hindrance, and to afford him every assistance and protection of which he may stand in need." The state as a whole stands behind its meanest citizen. It guarantees his rights and encourages him in the performance of his duties. All duties and all rights are relative to society, and are maintained by it.