Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/141

Ch. 1. abolute, which in themelves are few and imple; and, then, uch rights as are relative, which ariing from a variety of connexions, will be far more numerous and more complicated. Thee will take up a greater pace in any code of laws, and hence may appear to be more attended to, though in reality they are not, than the rights of the former kind. Let us therefore proceed to examine how far all laws ought, and how far the laws of England actually do, take notice of thee abolute rights, and provide for their lating ecurity.

abolute rights of man, conidered as a free agent, endowed with dicernment to know good from evil, and with power of chooing thoe meaures which appear to him to be mot deirable, are uually ummed up in one general appellation, and denominated the natural liberty of mankind. This natural liberty conits properly in a power of acting as one thinks fit, without any retraint or control, unles by the law of nature; being a right inherent in us by birth, and one of the gifts of God to man at his creation, when he endued him with the faculty of freewill. But every man, when he enters into ociety, gives up a part of his natural liberty, as the price of o valuable a purchae; and, in conideration of receiving the advantages of mutual commerce, obliges himelf to conform to thoe laws, which the community has thought proper to etablih. And this pecies of legal obedience and conformity is infinitely more deirable, than that wild and avage liberty which is acrificed to obtain it. For no man, that coniders a moment, would wih to retain the abolute and uncontroled power of doing whatever he pleaes; the conequence of which is, that every other man would alo have the ame power; and then there would be no ecurity to individuals in any of the enjoyments of life. Political therefore, or civil, liberty, which is that of a member of ociety, is no other than natural liberty o far retrained by human laws (and no farther) as is neceary and expedient for the general advantage of the public. Hence we may collect that the law, which retrains a man