There is nothing which ſo generally ſtrikes the imagination, and engages the affections of mankind, as the right of property; or that ſole and deſpotic dominion which one man claims and exerciſes over the external things of the world, in total excluſion of the right of any other individual in the univerſe. And yet there are very few that will give themſelves the trouble to conſider the original and foundation of this right. Pleaſed as we are with the poſſeſſion, we ſeem afraid to look back to the means by which it was acquired, as if fearful of ſome defect in our title; or at beſt we reſt ſatisfied with the deciſion of the laws in our favour, without examining the reaſon or authority upon which thoſe laws have been built. We think it enough that our title is derived by the grant of the former proprietor, by deſcent from our anceſtors, or by the laſt will and teſtament of the dying owner; not caring to reflect that (accurately and ſtrictly ſpeaking) there is no foundation in nature or in natural law, why a ſet of words upon parchment ſhould convey the dominion of land; why the ſon ſhould have a right to exclude his fellow creatures from a determinate ſpot of ground, becauſe his father had done ſo before him; or why the occupier of a particular field or of a jewel, when lying on his death-bed and no longer able to maintain poſſeſſion, ſhould be entitled to tell the reſt of the world which of them ſhould enjoy it after him. Theſe enquiries, it muſt be owned, would be uſeleſs and even troubleſome in common life. It is well if the maſs of mankind will obey the laws when made, without ſcrutinizing too nicely into the reaſons of making them. But, when law is to be conſidered not only as matter of practice, but alſo as a rational ſcience, it cannot be improper or uſeleſs to examine more deeply the rudiments and grounds of theſe poſitive conſtitutions of ſociety.
In the beginning of the world, we are informed by holy writ, the all-bountiful creator gave to man "dominion over all the earth; and over the fiſh of the ſea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the
