PROPERTY IN THE ALASKAN SEAL HERD. 55 



Nothing which is not au object of human desire — that is, nothing 

 which has uot a recognized utility — can be the subject of property, for 

 there is no possibility of conflict for the posse ssiou. Property, there 

 fore, is uot predicable of noxious reptiles, insects, or weeds, except under 

 special circumstances, where they may be kept for the purposes of 

 science or amusement. The supply, indeed, may be limited; but the 

 element of utility, which excites the conflicting desires which property 

 is designed to reconcile and restrain, is absent. Nor is property pred- 

 icable of things which, though in the highest degree useful, exist in 

 inexhaustible abundance and within the reach of all. Neither air nor- 

 light nor running water are the subjects of property. The supply is 

 unlimited, and where there is -abundance to satisfy all desires there can 

 be no conflict. 



There is a still further qualification of the extent to which the insti- 

 tution of property is operative. Manifestly, in order that a thing may 

 be owned, it must be susceptible of ownership, that is, of exclusive ap- 

 propriation to the power of some individual. There are things of 

 which this can not be asserted. Useful wild animals are the familiar 

 instance. Although objects of desire and limited in supply, they are 

 not, as a general rnle, susceptible of exclusive appropriation. They 

 are not subject, otherwise than by capture and confinement, to the con- 

 stant disposition of man as he may choose to dispose of them. We 

 can hold them only by keeping them in captivity, and this we can do 

 only in respect to an insignificant part. What, in the view of the law, 

 constitutes this susceptibility of exclusive appropriation is an interesting 

 and important question, which will be hereafter discussed in connection 

 with the question what animals are properly to be denominated as wild. 



The importance of the conclusion reached by the foregoing reasoning 

 should be marked by deliberate restatement. The institution of prop- 

 erty embraces all tangible things subject only to these three excepting 

 conditions: 



First. They must have that utility which makes them objects of 

 human desire. 



Second. The supply must be limited. 



Third. They must be susceptible of exclusive appropriation. 



inconvenient or impossible consistently with the peace of society; and, indeed, by 

 far the greater number of things can not be made fully subservient to the use of 

 mankind in the most beneficial manner unless they be governed by the laws of ex- 

 clusive appropriation." 



