Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol II).djvu/20

 8 has providence interwoven our duty and our happines together) the reult of this very neceity has been the enobling of the human pecies, by giving it opportunities of improving it's rational faculties, as well as of exerting it's natural. Neceity begat property; and, in order to inure that property, recoure was had to civil ociety, which brought along with it a long train of ineparable concomitants; tates, government, laws, punihments and the public exercie of religious duties. Thus connected together, it was found that a part only of ociety was ufficient to provide, by their manual labour, for the neceary ubitence of all; and leiure was given to others to cultivate the human mind, to invent ueful arts, and to lay the foundations of cience.

only quetion remaining is, how this property became actually veted; or what it is that gave a man an excluive right to retain in a permanent manner that pecific land, which before belonged generally to every body, but particularly to nobody. And, as we before oberved that occupancy gave the right to the temporary ue of the oil, o it is agreed upon all hands that occupancy gave alo the original right to the permanent property in the ubtance of the earth itelf; which excludes every one ele but the owner from the ue of it. There is indeed ome difference among the writers on natural law, concerning the reaon why occupancy hould convey this right, and invet one with this abolute property: Grotius and Puffendorf initing, that this right of occupancy is founded upon a tacit and implied aent of all mankind, that the firt occupant hould become the owner; and Barbeyrac, Titius, Mr Locke, and others, holding, that there is no uch implied aent, neither is it neceary that there hould be; for that the very act of occupancy, alone, being a degree of bodily labour, is from a principle of natural jutice, without any conent or compact, ufficient of itelf to gain a title. A dipute that favours too much of nice and cholatic refinement! However, both ides agree in this, that occupancy is the thing by which the title was in fact originally gained; every man eiing to his own continued ue uch pots of ground as he found mot Rh