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评价文档：Property: John Locke, Second Treatise, && 25--51, 123--26
CHAPTER 16|Document 3
John Locke, Second Treatise, && 25--51, 123--26
Chap. V. Of Property.
25. Whether we consider natural Reason, which tells us,
that Men, being once born, have a right to their Preservation,
and consequently to Meat and Drink, and such other
things, as Nature affords for their Subsistence: Or Revelation,
which gives us an account of those Grants God made
of the World to Adam, and to Noah, and his Sons, 'tis very
clear, that God, as King David says, Psal. CXV. xvi. has
given the Earth to the Children of Men, given it to Mankind
in common. But this being supposed, it seems to some a
very great difficulty, how any one should ever come to
have a Property in any thing: I will not content my self to
answer, That if it be difficult to make out Property, upon
a supposition, that God gave the World to Adam and his
P it is impossible that any Man, but
one universal Monarch, should have any Property, upon a
supposition, that God gave the World to Adam, and his
Heirs in Succession, exclusive of all the rest of his Posterity.
But I shall endeavour to shew, how Men might come
to have a property in several parts of that which God gave
to Mankind in common, and that without any express
Compact of all the Commoners.
26. God, who hath given the World to Men in common,
hath also given them reason to make use of it to the best
advantage of Life, and convenience. The Earth, and all
that is therein, is given to Men for the Support and Comfort
of their being. And though all the Fruits it naturally
produces, and Beasts it feeds, belong to Mankind in common,
as they are produced by the spontaneous hand of
N and no body has originally a private Dominion,
exclusive of the rest of Mankind, in any of them, as they
are thus in their natural state: yet being given for the use
of Men, there must of necessity be a means to appropriate
them some way or other before they can be of any use, or
at all beneficial to any particular Man. The Fruit, or Venison,
which nourishes the wild Indian, who knows no Inclosure,
and is still a Tenant in common, must be his and
so his, i.e. a part of him, that another can no longer have
any right to it, before it can do him any good for the support
of his Life.
27. Though the Earth, and all inferior Creatures be
common to all Men, yet every Man has a Property in his
own Person. This no Body has any Right to but himself.
The Labour of his Body, and the Work of his Hands, we
may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes
out of the State that Nature hath provided, and left it in,
he hath mixed his Labour with, and joyned to it something
that is his own, and thereby makes it his Property. It being
by him removed from the common state Nature placed it
in, hath by this labour something annexed to it, that excludes
the common right of other Men. For this Labour
being the unquestionable Property of the Labourer, no
man but he can have a right to what that is once joyned
to, at least where there is enough, and as good left in common
for others.
28. He that is nourished by the Acorns he pickt up under
an Oak, or the Apples he gathered from the Trees in
the Wood, has certainly appropriated them to himself. No
Body can deny but the nourishment is his. I ask then,
When did they begin to be his? When he digested? Or
when he eat? Or when he boiled? Or when he brought
them home? Or when he pickt them up? And 'tis plain, if
the first gathering made them not his, nothing else could.
That labour put a distinction between them and common.
That added something to them more than Nature, the
common Mother of all, and so they became his
private right. And will any one say he had no right to
those Acorns or Apples he thus appropriated, because he
had not the consent of all Mankind to make them his? Was
it a Robbery thus to assume to himself what belonged to
all in Common? If such a consent as that was necessary,
Man had starved, notwithstanding the Plenty God had
given him. We see in Commons, which remain so by Compact,
that 'tis the taking any part of what is common, and
removing it out of the state Nature leaves it in, which begins
the P without which the Common is of no use.
And the taking of this or that part, does not depend on
the express consent of all the Commoners. Thus the Grass
my H the Turfs my S and the
Ore I have digg'd in any place where I have a right to
them in common with others, become my Property, without
the assignation or consent of any body. The labour that
was mine, removing them out of that common state they
were in, hath fixed my Property in them.
29. By making an explicit consent of every Commoner,
necessary to any ones appropriating to himself any part of
what is given in common, Children or Servants could not
cut the Meat which their Father or Master had provided
for them in common, without assigning to every one his
peculiar part. Though the Water running in the Fountain
be every ones, yet who can doubt, but that in the Pitcher
is his only who drew it out? His labour hath taken it out of
the hands of Nature, where it was common, and belong'd
equally to all her Children, and hath thereby appropriated it
to himself.
30. Thus this Law of reason makes the Deer, that Indian's
'tis allowed to be his goods who
hath bestowed his labour upon it, though before, it was the
common right of every one. And amongst those who are
counted the Civiliz'd part of Mankind, who have made and
multiplied positive Laws to determine Property, this original
Law of Nature for the beginning of Property, in what
was before common, and by vertue
thereof, what Fish any one catches in the Ocean, that great
and still remaining Common of M or what Ambergriese
any one takes up here, is by the Labour that removes
it out of that common state Nature left it in, made his Property
who takes that pains about it. And even amongst us
the Hare that any one is Hunting, is thought his who pursues
her during the Chase. For being a Beast that is still
looked upon as common, and no Man's private P
whoever has imploy'd so much labour about any of that
kind, as to find and pursue her, has thereby removed her
from the state of Nature, wherein she was common, and
hath begun a Property.
31. It will perhaps be objected to this, That if gathering
the Acorns, or other Fruits of the Earth, &c. makes a right
to them, then any one may ingross as much as he will. To
which I Answer, Not so. The same Law of Nature, that
does by this means give us Property, does also bound that
Property too. God has given us all things richly, 1 Tim. vi. 17.
is the Voice of Reason confirmed by Inspiration. But how
far has he given it us? To enjoy. As much as any one can
make use of to any advantage of l so
much he may by his labour fix a Property in. Whatever is
beyond this, is more than his share, and belongs to others.
Nothing was made by God for Man to spoil or destroy.
And thus considering the plenty of natural Provisions
there was a long time in the World, and the few spenders,
and to how small a part of that provision the industry of
one Man could extend it self, and ingross it to the prejudice
especially keeping within the bounds, set by
reason of what might serve for his
there could be then
little room for Quarrels or Contentions about Property so
establish'd.
32. But the chief matter of Property being now not the
Fruits of the Earth, and the Beasts that subsist on it, but
the E as that which takes in and carries with it
all the rest: I think it is plain, that Property in that too is
acquired as the former. As much Land as a Man Tills,
Plants, Improves, Cultivates, and can use the Product of,
so much is his Property. He by his Labour does, as it were,
inclose it from the Common. Nor will it invalidate his right
to say, Every body else has an equal T and therefore
he cannot appropriate, he cannot inclose, without the
Consent of all his Fellow-Commoners, all Mankind. God,
when he gave the World in common to all Mankind, commanded
Man also to labour, and the penury of his Condition
required it of him. God and his Reason commanded
him to subdue the Earth, i.e. improve it for the benefit of
Life, and therein lay out something upon it that was his
own, his labour. He that in Obedience to this Command
of God, subdued, tilled and sowed any part of it, thereby
annexed to it something that was his Property, which another
had no Title to, nor could without injury take from
33. Nor was this appropriation of any parcel of Land, by
improving it, any prejudice to any other Man, since there
was still enough, and more than the yet
unprovided could use. So that in effect, there was never
the less left for others because of his inclosure for himself.
For he that leaves as much as another can make use of,
does as good as take nothing at all. No Body could think
himself injur'd by the drinking of another Man, though he
took a good Draught, who had a whole River of the same
Water left him to quench his thirst. And the Case of Land
and Water, where there is enough of both, is perfectly the
34. God gave the World to Men in C but since
he gave it them for their benefit, and the greatest Conveniencies
of Life they were capable to draw from it, it cannot
be supposed he meant it should always remain common
and uncultivated. He gave it to the use of the Industrious
and Rational, (and Labour was to be his Title)
not to the Fancy or Covetousness of the Quarrelsom and
Contentious. He that had as good left for his Improvement,
as was already taken up, needed not complain,
ought not to meddle with what was already improved by
another's Labour: If he did, 'tis plain he desired the benefit
of another's Pains, which he had no right to, and not
the Ground which God had given him in common with
others to labour on, and whereof there was as good left,
as that already possessed, and more than he knew what to
do with, or his Industry could reach to.
35. 'Tis true, in Land that is common in England, or any
other Country, where there is Plenty of People under Government,
who have Money and Commerce, no one can inclose
or appropriate any part, without the consent of all
his Fellow-Commoners: Because this is left common by
Compact, i.e. by the Law of the Land, which is not to be
violated. And though it be Common, in respect of some
Men, it is not so to all M but is the joint property
of this Countrey, or this Parish. Besides, the remainder,
after such inclosure, would not be as good to the rest of
the Commoners as the whole was, when they could all
make use of the whole: whereas in the beginning and first
peopling of the great Common of the World, it was quite
otherwise. The Law Man was under, was rather for appropriating.
God Commanded, and his Wants forced him to
labour. That was his Property which could not be taken
from him where-ever he had fixed it. And hence subduing
or cultivating the Earth, and having Dominion, we see are
joyned together. The one gave Title to the other. So that
God, by commanding to subdue, gave Authority so far to
appropriate. And the Condition of Humane Life, which requires
Labour and Materials to work on, necessarily introduces
private Possessions.
36. The measure of Property, Nature has well set, by
the Extent of Mens Labour, and the Conveniency of Life: No
Mans Labour could subdue, or appropriate all: nor could
his Enjoyment consume mo so that it
was impossible for any Man, this way, to intrench upon the
right of another, or acquire, to himself, a Property, to the
Prejudice of his Neighbour, who would still have room, for
as good, and as large a Possession (after the other had
taken out his) as before it was appropriated. This measure
did confine every Man's Possession, to a very moderate
Proportion, and such as he might appropriate to himself,
without Injury to any Body in the first Ages of the World,
when Men were more in danger to be lost, by wandering
from their Company, in the then vast Wilderness of the
Earth, than to be straitned for want of room to plant in.
And the same measure may be allowed still, without prejudice
to any Body, as full as the World seems. For supposing
a Man, or Family, in the state they were, at first peopling
of the World by the Children of Adam, or N let
him plant in some in-land, vacant places of America, we
shall find that the Possessions he could make himself upon
the measures we have given, would not be very large, nor,
even to this day, prejudice the rest of Mankind, or give
them reason to complain, or think themselves injured by
this Man's Incroachment, though the Race of Men have
now spread themselves to all the corners of the World, and
do infinitely exceed the small number [which] was at the
beginning. Nay, the extent of Ground is of so little value,
without labour, that I have heard it affirmed, that in Spain
it self, a Man may be permitted to plough, sow, and reap,
without being disturbed, upon Land he has no other Title
to, but only his making use of it. But, on the contrary, the
Inhabitants think themselves beholden to him, who, by his
Industry on neglected, and consequently waste Land, has
increased the stock of Corn, which they wanted. But be
this as it will, which I This I dare boldly
affirm, That the same Rule of Propriety, (viz.) that every
Man should have as much as he could make use of, would
hold still in the World, without straitning any body, since
there is Land enough in the World to suffice double the
Inhabitants had not the Invention of Money, and the tacit
Agreement of Men to put a value on it, introduced (by
Consent) larger Possessions, and a R which,
how it has done, I shall, by and by, shew more at large.
37. This is certain, That in the beginning, before the
desire of having more than Men needed, had altered the
intrinsick value of things, which depends only on their
usefulness to the Life of M or [Men] had agreed, that a
little piece of yellow Metal, which would keep without wasting
or decay, should be worth a great piece of Flesh, or a
whole heap of C though Men had a Right to appropriate,
by their Labour, each one to himself, as much of
the things of Nature, as he could use: Yet this could not
be much, nor to the Prejudice of others, where the same
plenty was still left, to those who would use the same Industry.
To which let me add, that he who appropriates
land to himself by his labour, does not lessen but increase
the common stock of mankind. For the provisions serving
to the support of humane life, produced by one acre of
inclosed and cultivated land, are (to speak much within
compasse) ten times more, than those, which are yeilded
by an acre of Land, of an equal richnesse, lyeing wast in
common. And therefor he, that incloses Land and has a
greater plenty of the conveniencys of life from ten acres,
than he could have from an hundred left to Nature, may
truly be said, to give ninety acres to Mankind. For his labour
now supplys him with provisions out of ten acres,
which were but the product of an hundred lying in common.
I have here rated the improved land very low in
making its product but as ten to one, when it is much
nearer an hundred to one. For I aske whether in the wild
woods and uncultivated wast of America left to Nature,
without any improvement, tillage or husbandry, a thousand
acres will yeild the needy and wretched inhabitants
as many conveniencies of life as ten acres of equally fertile
land doe in Devonshire where they are well cultivated?
Before the Appropriation of Land, he who gathered as
much of the wild Fruit, killed, caught, or tamed, as many
of the B he that so employed his Pains
about any of the spontaneous Products of Nature, as any
way to alter them, from the state which Nature put them
in, by placing any of his Labour on them, did thereby acquire
a Property in them: But if they perished, in his Possession,
w if the Fruits rotted, or the
Venison putrified, before he could spend it, he offended
against the common Law of Nature, and was liable to be
he invaded his Neighbour's share, for he had no
Right, farther than his Use called for any of them, and they
might serve to afford him Conveniencies of Life.
38. The same measures governed the Possession of Land
too: Whatsoever he tilled and reaped, laid up and made
use of, before it spoiled, that was his peculiar R whatsoever
he enclosed, and could feed, and make use of, the
Cattle and Product was also his. But if either the Grass of
his Inclosure rotted on the Ground, or the Fruit of his
planting perished without gathering, and laying up, this
part of the Earth, notwithstanding his Inclosure, was still
to be looked on as Waste, and might be the Possession of
any other. Thus, at the beginning, Cain might take as
much Ground as he could till, and make it his own Land,
and yet leave enough to Abel's S a few
Acres would serve for both their Possessions. But as Families
increased, and Industry inlarged their Stocks, their
Possessions inlarged w but yet it was
commonly without any fixed property in the ground they made
use of, till they incorporated, settled themselves together,
and built Cities, and then, by consent, they came in time,
to set out the bounds of their distinct Territories, and agree
on limits between them and their Neighbours, and by
Laws within themselves, settled the Properties of those of
the same Society. For we see, that in that part of the World
which was first inhabited, and therefore like to be best
peopled, even as low down as Abraham's time, they
wandred with their Flocks, and their Herds, which was
their substance, and this Abraham did,
in a Country where he was a Stranger. Whence it is plain,
that at least, a great part of the L that
the Inhabitants valued it not, nor claimed Property in any
more than they made use of. But when there was not
room enough in the same place, for their Herds to feed
together, they, by consent, as Abraham and Lot did, Gen.
xiii. 5. separated and inlarged their pasture, where it best
liked them. And for the same Reason Esau went from his
Father, and his Brother, and planted in Mount Seir, Gen.
39. And thus, without supposing any private Dominion,
and property in Adam, over all the World, exclusive of all
other Men, which can no way be proved, nor any ones
Property but supposing the World
given as it was to the Children of Men in common, we see
how labour could make Men distinct titles to several parcels
of it, fo wherein there could be no
doubt of Right, no room for quarrel.
40. Nor is it so strange, as perhaps before consideration
it may appear, that the Property of labour should be able to
over-ballance the Community of Land. For 'tis Labour indeed
that puts the difference of value and let
any one consider, what the difference is between an Acre
of Land planted with Tobacco, or Sugar, sown with Wheat
or B and an Acre of the same Land lying in common,
without any Husbandry upon it, and he will find,
that the improvement of labour makes the far greater part
of the value. I think it will be but a very modest Computation
to say, that of the Products of the Earth useful to the
Life of man 9/10 are the effects of labour: nay, if we will
rightly estimate things as they come to our use, and cast
up the several Expenses about them, what in them is
purely owing to Nature, and what to labour, we shall find,
that in most of them 99/100 are wholly to be put on the account
of labour.
41. There cannot be a clearer demonstration of any
thing, than several Nations of the Americans are of this,
who are rich in Land, and poor in all the Comforts of L
whom Nature having furnished as liberally as any other
people, with the materials of Plenty, i.e. a fruitful Soil, apt
to produce in abundance, what might serve for food, rayment,
yet for want of improving it by labour,
have not one hundredth part of the Conveniencies we enjoy:
And a King of a large fruitful Territory there feeds,
lodges, and is clad worse than a day Labourer in England.
42. To make this a little clearer, let us but trace some of
the ordinary provisions of Life, through their several progresses,
before they come to our use, and see how much
they receive of their value from Humane Industry. Bread,
Wine and Cloth, are things of daily use, and great plenty,
yet notwithstanding, Acorns, Water, and Leaves, or Skins,
must be our Bread, Drink and Clothing, did not labour
furnish us with these more useful Commodities. For whatever
Bread is more worth than Acorns, Wine than Water,
and Cloth or Silk than Leaves, Skins, or Moss, that is wholly
owing to labour and industry. The one of these being the
Food and Rayment which unassisted Nature furnishes us
the other provisions which our industry and pains
prepare for us, which how much they exceed the other in
value, when any one hath computed, he will then see, how
much labour makes the far greatest part of the value of things,
we enjoy in this World: And the ground which produces
the materials, is scarce to be reckon'd in, as any, or at most,
but a very small, So little, that even amongst us,
Land that is left wholly to Nature, that hath no improvement
of Pasturage, Tillage, or Planting, is called, as indeed
and we shall find the benefit of it amount to little
more than nothing. This shews, how much numbers of
men are to be preferd to largenesse of dominions, and
that the increase of lands and the right imploying of them
is the great art of government. And that Prince who shall
be so wise and godlike as by established laws of liberty to
secure protection and incouragement to the honest industry
of Mankind against the oppression of power and narrownesse
of Party will quickly be too hard for his neighbours.
But this bye the bye. To return to the argument in
43. An Acre of Land that bears here Twenty Bushels of
Wheat, and another in America, which, with the same Husbandry,
would do the like, are without doubt, of the same
natural, intrinsick Value. But yet the Benefit Mankind receives
from the one, in a Year, is worth 5 l. and from the
other possibly not worth a Penny, if all the Profit an Indian
received from it were to be valued, at least,
I may truly say, not 1/1000. 'Tis Labour then which puts the
greatest part of Value upon Land, without which it would
scarcely be worth any thing: 'tis to that we owe the greatest
part of all its useful P for all that the Straw, Bran,
Bread, of that Acre of Wheat, is more worth than the
Product of an Acre of as good Land, which lies wast, is all
the Effect of Labour. For 'tis not barely the Plough-man's
Pains, the Reaper's and Thresher's Toil, and the Bakers
Sweat, is to be counted into the Bread the Labour
of those who broke the Oxen, who digged and wrought
the Iron and Stones, who felled and framed the Timber
imployed about the Plough, Mill, Oven, or any other
Utensils, which are a vast Number, requisite to this Corn,
from its being seed to be sown to its being made Bread,
must all be charged on the account of Labour, and received
Nature and the Earth furnished only
the almost worthless Materials, as in themselves. 'Twould
be a strange Catalogue of things, that Industry provided and
made use of, about every Loaf of Bread, before it came to our
use, if Iron, Wood, Leather, Bark,
Timber, Stone, Bricks, Coals, Lime, Cloth, Dying-Drugs,
Pitch, Tar, Masts, Ropes, and all the Materials made use
of in the Ship, that brought any of the Commodities made
use of by any of the Workmen, to any part of the Work,
all which, 'twould be almost impossible, at least too long,
to reckon up.
44. From all which it is evident, that though the things
of Nature are given in common, yet Man (by being Master
of himself, and Proprietor of his own Person, and the actions
or Labour of it) had still in himself the great Foundation of
P and that which made up the great part of what
he applied to the Support or Comfort of his being, when
Invention and Arts had improved the conveniencies of
Life, was perfectly his own, and did not belong in common
to others.
45. Thus Labour, in the Beginning, gave a Right of Property,
where-ever any one was pleased to imploy it, upon
what was common, which remained, a long while, the far
greater part, and is yet more than Mankind makes use of.
Men, at first, for the most part, contented themselves with
what un-assisted Nature Offered to their Necessities: and
though afterwards, in some parts of the World, (where the
Increase of People and Stock, with the Use of Money) had
made Land scarce, and so of some Value, the several Communities
settled the Bounds of their distinct Territories,
and by Laws within themselves, regulated the Properties
of the private Men of their Society, and so, by Compact and
Agreement, settled the Property which Labour and Industry
and the Leagues that have been made between several
States and Kingdoms, either expressly or tacitly disowning
all Claim and Right to the Land in the others Possession,
have, by common Consent, given up their Pretences
to their natural common Right, which originally
they had to those Countries, and so have, by positive agreement,
settled a Property amongst themselves, in distinct Parts
and parcels of the Earth: yet there are still great Tracts of
Ground to be found, which (the Inhabitants thereof not
having joyned with the rest of Mankind, in the consent of
the Use of their common Money) lie waste, and are more
than the People, who dwell on it, do, or can make use of,
and so still lie in common. Tho' this can scarce happen
amongst that part of Mankind, that have consented to the
use of Money.
46. The greatest part of things really useful to the Life of
Man, and such as the necessity of subsisting made the first
Commoners of the World look after, as it doth the Americans
now, are generally things
such as, if
they are not consumed by use, will decay and perish of
themselves: Gold, Silver, and Diamonds, are things, that
Fancy or Agreement hath put the Value on, more then
real Use, and the necessary Support of Life. Now of those
good things which Nature hath provided in common,
every one had a Right (as hath been said) to as much as he
could use, and had a Property in all that he could affect
with his Labour: all that his Industry could extend to, to
alter from the State Nature had put it in, was his. He that
gathered a Hundred Bushels of Acorns or Apples, had
thereby a Property they were his Goods as soon as
gathered. He was only to look that he used them before
else he took more than his share, and robb'd
others. And indeed it was a foolish thing, as well as dishonest,
to hoard up more than he could make use of. If
he gave away a part to any body else, so that it perished
not uselesly in his Possession, these he also made use of.
And if he also bartered away Plumbs that would have rotted
in a Week, for Nuts that would last good for his eating
a whole Year, he wasted not the common
S destroyed no part of the portion of Goods that belonged
to others, so long as nothing perished uselesly in
his hands. Again, if he would give us Nuts for a piece of
Metal, ple or exchanged his Sheep for
Shells, or Wool for a sparkling Pebble or a Diamond, and
keep those by him all his Life, he invaded not the Right of
others, he might heap up as much of these durable things
the exceeding of the bounds of his just Property
not lying in the largeness of his Possession, but the perishing
of any thing uselesly in it.
47. And thus came in the use of Money, some lasting thing
that Men might keep without spoiling, and that by mutual
consent Men would take in exchange for the truly useful,
but perishable Supports of Life.
48. And as different degrees of Industry were apt to
give Men Possessions in different Proportions, so this Invention
of Money gave them the opportunity to continue to
enlarge them. For supposing an Island, separated from all
possible Commerce with the rest of the World, wherein
there were but a hundred Families, but there were Sheep,
Horses and Cows, with other useful Animals, wholsome
Fruits, and Land enough for Corn for a hundred thousand
times as many, but nothing in the Island, either because
of its Commonness, or Perishableness, fit to supply
the place of Money: What reason could any one have there
to enlarge his Possessions beyond the use of his Family,
and a plentiful supply to its Consumption, either in what
their own Industry produced, or they could barter for like
perishable, useful Commodities, with others? Where there
is not something both lasting and scarce, and so valuable
to be hoarded up, there Men will not be apt to enlarge
their Possessions of Land, were it never so rich, never so
free for them to take. For I ask, What would a Man value
Ten Thousand, or an Hundred Thousand Acres of excellent
Land, ready cultivated, and well stocked too with Cattle,
in the middle of the in-land Parts of America, where
he had no hopes of Commerce with other Parts of the
World, to draw Money to him by the Sale of the Product?
It would not be worth the inclosing, and we should see
him give up again to the wild Common of Nature, whatever
was more than would supply the Conveniencies of
Life to be had there for him and his Family.
49. Thus in the beginning all the World was America,
and more for no such thing as Money
was any where known. Find out something that hath the
Use and Value of Money amongst his Neighbours, you shall
see the same Man will begin presently to enlarge his Possessions.
50. But since Gold and Silver, being little useful to the
Life of Man in proportion to Food, Rayment, and Carriage,
has its value only from the consent of Men, whereof
Labour yet makes, in great part, the measure, it is plain,
that Men have agreed to disproportionate and unequal
Possession of the Earth, they having by a tacit and voluntary
consent found out a way, how a man may fairly possess
more land than he himself can use the product of, by
receiving in exchange for the overplus, Gold and Silver,
which may be hoarded up without injury to any one, these
metalls not spoileing or decaying in the hands of the possessor.
This partage of things, in an inequality of private
possessions, men have made practicable out of the bounds
of Societie, and without compact, only by putting a value
on gold and silver and tacitly agreeing in the use of
Money. For in Governments the Laws regulate the right
of property, and the possession of land is determined by
positive constitutions.
51. And thus, I think, it is very easie to conceive without
any difficulty, how Labour could at first begin a title of Property
in the common things of Nature, and how the spending it
upon our uses bounded it. So that there could then be no
reason of quarrelling about Title, nor any doubt about the
largeness of Possession it gave. Right and conveniency
for as a Man had a Right to all he could
imploy his Labour upon, so he had no temptation to labour
for more than he could make use of. This left no
room for Controversie about the Title, nor for Incroachment
on the R what Portion a Man carved
to himself, and it was useless as well as
dishonest to carve himself too much, or take more than he
Chap. IX. Of the Ends of Political Society and Government.
123. If Man in the State of Nature be so free, as has
If he be absolute Lord of his own Person and
Possessions, equal to the greatest, and subject to no Body,
why will he part with his Freedom? Why will he give up
this Empire, and subject himself to the Dominion and
Controul of any other Power? To which 'tis obvious to Answer,
that though in the state of Nature he hath such a
right, yet the Enjoyment of it is very uncertain, and constantly
exposed to the Invasion of others. For all being
Kings as much as he, every Man his Equal, and the greater
part no strict Observers of Equity and Justice, the enjoyment
of the property he has in this state is very unsafe,
very unsecure. This makes him willing to quit a Condition,
which however free, is full of fears and continual dangers:
And 'tis not without reason, that he seeks out, and is willing
to joyn in Society with others who are already united,
or have a mind to unite for the mutual Preservation of their
Lives, Liberties and Estates, which I call by the general
Name, Property.
124. The great and chief end therefore, of Mens uniting
into Commonwealths, and putting themselves under Government,
is the Preservation of their Property. To which in the
state of Nature there are many things wanting.
First, There wants an establish'd, settled, known Law,
received and allowed by common consent to be the Standard
of Right and Wrong, and the common measure to
decide all Controversies between them. For though the
Law of Nature be plain and intelligible to all rational C
yet Men being biassed by their Interest, as well as
ignorant for want of study of it, are not apt to allow of it
as a Law binding to them in the application of it to their
particular Cases.
125. Secondly, In the State of Nature there wants a
known and indifferent Judge, with Authority to determine all
differences according to the established Law. For every
one in that state being both Judge and Executioner of the
Law of Nature, Men being partial to themselves, Passion
and Revenge is very apt to carry them too far, and with
too much heat, in their own C as well as negligence,
and unconcernedness, to make them too remiss, in other
126. Thirdly, In the state of Nature there often wants
Power to back and support the Sentence when right, and
to give it due Execution. They who by any Injustice offended,
will seldom fail, where they are able, by force to
make good their Injustice: such resistance many times
makes the punishment dangerous, and frequently destructive,
to those who attempt it.
The Founders' Constitution
Volume 1, Chapter 16, Document 3http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s3.htmlThe University of Chicago Press
& 1987 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2000