tinuance of the original poſſeſſion which the firſt occupant had; or as an abandoning of the thing by the preſent owner, and an immediate ſucceſſive occupancy of the ſame by the new proprietor. The voluntary dereliction of the owner, and delivering the poſſeſſion to another individual, amount to a transfer of the property; the proprietor declaring his intention no longer to occupy the thing himſelf, but that his own right of occupancy ſhall be veſted in the new acquirer. Or, taken in the other light, if I agree to part with an acre of my land to Titius, the deed of conveyance is an evidence of my having abandoned the property, and Titius, being the only or firſt man acquainted with ſuch my intention, immediately ſteps in and ſeiſes the vacant poſſeſſion: thus the conſent expreſſed by the conveyance gives Titius a good right againſt me; and poſſeſſion, or occupancy, confirms that right againſt all the world beſides.
The moſt univerſal and effectual way, of abandoning property, is by the death of the occupant: when, both the actual poſſeſſion and intention of keeping poſſeſſion ceaſing, the property, which is founded upon ſuch poſſeſſion and intention, ought alſo to ceaſe of courſe. For, naturally ſpeaking, the inſtant a man ceaſes to be, he ceaſes to have any dominion: elſe, if he had a right to diſpoſe of his acquiſitions one moment beyond his life, he would alſo have a right to direct their diſpoſal for a million of ages after him; which would be highly abſurd and inconvenient. All property muſt therefore ceaſe upon death, conſidering men as abſolute individuals, and unconnected with civil ſociety: for then, by the principles before eſtabliſhed, the next immediate occupant would acquire a right in all that the deceaſed poſſeſſed. But as, under civilized governments which are calculated for the peace of mankind, ſuch a conſtitution would be productive of endleſs diſturbances, the univerſal law of almoſt every nation (which is a kind of ſecondary law of nature) has either given the dying perſon a power of continuing his property, by diſpoſing of his poſſeſſions by will; or, in caſe he neglects to diſpoſe of it, or is not permitted to make any diſpoſition at all,
