Essays on Property and Labor

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1841. Excerpt: ... ancients were confirmed by the bible. Grotius says: "God gave to mankind in general, dominion over all the creatures of the earth, from the first creation of the world; a grant which was renewed upon the resto« ration of the world after the deluge."1 Upon perusing the passages adduced by that great jurist, especially in conjunction with the twenty-eighth verse of the first chapter of Genesis, it will appear, first, that nothing more is expressed in them than the right of man to use the animals and fruits of the lasts. Mr. Stewart then adds an instance of his own, namely, a man who rests himself in the shade of a tree. It would, he says, certainly be unjust 'o claim the spot for the same purpose so long as the first occupier rests there, but it gives no enduring right to the occupier. This instance serves to show the nature of temporary occupancy, but not that of property in law. If that spot of ground was unappropriated, and the man wanted every day to rest in that shade from his labour--in »hort, if he had a permanent interest of enjoyment or use in that spot, he had likewise the right of appropriating it to himself; that of exchanging it for another spot equally shady, if his neighbour desires his spot for a better use, and so on. 1 The Rights of War and Peace, book ii., chapter ii., 2; where, it. confirmation of the above, are quoted Genesis, i., 29, 30, and ix., 2. earth for his sustenance; and, secondly, thai "the dominion" which is bestowed upon mail does not mean any general property, but the power which he, with his superior intellect, will and ought to exercise over animals fiercer or swifter than himself, and the right of appropriation, or of making property. He shall "subdue it," that is, make it his own. The first, and, in my opinion...