another might ſeiſe it without injuſtice. Thus alſo a vine or other tree might be ſaid to be in common, as all men were equally entitled to it's produce; and yet any private individual might gain the ſole property of the fruit, which he had gathered for his own repaſt. A doctrine well illuſtrated by Cicero, who compares the world to a great theatre, which is common to the public, and yet the place which any man has taken is for the time his own[1].
But when mankind increaſed in number, craft, and ambition, it became neceſſary to entertain conceptions of more permanent dominion; and to appropriate to individuals not the immediate uſe only, but the very ſubſtance of the thing, to be uſed. Otherwiſe innumerable tumults muſt have ariſen, and the good order of the world been continually broken and diſturbed, while a variety of perſons were ſtriving who ſhould get the firſt occupation of the ſame thing, or diſputing which of them had actually gained it. As human life alſo grew more and more refined, abundance of conveniences were deviſed to render it more eaſy, commodious, and agreeable; as, habitations for ſhelter and ſafety, and raiment for warmth and decency. But no man would be at the trouble to provide either, ſo long as he had only an uſufructuary property in them, which was to ceaſe the inſtant that he quitted poſſeſſion; — if, as ſoon as he walked out of his tent, or pulled off his garment, the next ſtranger who came by would have a right to inhabit the one, and to wear the other. In the caſe of habitations in particular, it was natural to obſerve, that even the brute creation, to whom every thing elſe was in common, maintained a kind of permanent property in their dwellings, eſpecially for the protection of their young; that the birds of the air had neſts, and the beaſts of the field had caverns, the invaſion of which they eſteemed a very flagrant injuſtice, and would ſacrifice their lives to preſerve them. Hence a property was ſoon eſtabliſhed in every man's houſe and home-ſtall; which ſeem to have been originally mere temporary huts or moveable cabins,
- ↑ Quemadmodum theatrum, cum commune ſit, recte tamen dici poteſt, ejus eſſe eum locum quem quiſque occuparit. De Fin. l. 3. c. 20.
