159 



dual improv-emciits, and in proportion to these, merit th« 

 title of civilized. 



Hence the natural or original state of mankind was that 

 of filial subjection to a common parent; this was succeeded 

 hj the barl>ariai>, which in n)any instances was refined into 

 tiie civilized. That wiiich llobbes and many other philoso- 

 pliers and jurists call the state of nature, is notliing more 

 than that of men abstactedly considered, and never had a 

 real existence. 



The mere possession of property is not a characteristic of 

 civihzation, nor was property originally a creature of law 

 or society, for it was for the secure possession of property 

 previously acquired, that different families originally asso-* 

 ciated, except perhaps some wandering tribes, who distri- 

 buted auioiig themselves by lot or otherwise, the lands of 

 a territory in which they newly settled- In such cases, 

 landed property and the course of its subsequent acquisition^ 

 ransmission or disposition may justly be called the creature 

 >f law. This is so true, that even savages claimed and en- 

 inyed a property not only in common, but individually, in the 

 portion of land necessary for their subsistence, as I have al- 

 ready shewn. 



The degrees of civilization are various, according to the 

 variable extent and degree of protection and security afforded 



to 



