636 CITATIONS FROM WRITINGS OF JURISTS AND ECONOMISTS. 



wants of each, whoever should, to the exclusion of all other partici- 

 pants, attempt to render himself sole proprietor of them, would unrea- 

 sonably seek to wrest the bounteous gifts ot Nature from the parties 

 excluded 1 . There is accordingly no warrant of Natural Law for an 

 absolute Eight of Property in the running water of rivers [aquaper- 

 ennis) any more than in the tidal water of the sea. But if the free and 

 common use of a thing of this nature (namely, which is of itself inex- 

 haustible) be prejudicial or dangerous to a nation, the care of its own 

 safety will entitle it so far, and so far only, to control the use of it by 

 others, as to secure that no prejudice or danger result to itself from 

 their use of it. A nation may accordingly have a Right of Empire over 

 things which are, nevertheless, by nature communis usAs, and over 

 which it cannot acquire an absolute Right of Property; as, for instance, 

 over portions of the high seas, or over rivers which form the boundary 

 of its territory. The limits within which the safety of a nation war- 

 rants such an exercise of empire will be considered hereafter. 



Keddie: Inquiries into International Law. Pt. II. ch. v., sub sec. II., 

 Art. 2, p. 207. 2d ed., 1851. 



But the chief source of the intercourse of nations, in their individual 

 capacity, is the exchange of commodities, of natural or artificial pro- 

 duction. The territory of one state very rarely produces all that is 

 requisite for the supply of the wants for the use and enjoyment of its 

 inhabitants. To a certain extent, one state generally abounds in what 

 others want. A mutual exchange of superfluous commodities is thus 

 reciprocally advantageous for both nations. And, as it is a moral duty 

 in individuals to promote the welfare of their neighbour, it appears to 

 be also the moral duty of a nation not to refuse commerce with other 

 nations, when that commerce is not hurtful to itself. 



Vattel, 7th Amer., Bk. II, ch. n., sec. 21, p. 142, ed. 1849. 



Sec. 21. All men ought to find on earth the things they stand in need 

 of. In the primitive state of communion, they took them wherever 

 they happened to meet with them, if another had not before appro- 

 priated them to his own use. The introduction of dominion and prop- 

 erty could not deprive men of so essential a right; and, consequently, it 

 cannot take place without leaving them, in general, some means of pro- 

 curing what is useful or necessary to them. This means is commerce; 

 by it every man may still supply his wants. Things being now become 

 property, there is no obtaining them without the owner's consent, nor 

 are they usually to be had for nothing; but they may be bought, or 

 exchanged for other things of equal value. Men are, therefore, under 

 an obligation to carry on that commerce with each other, if they wish 

 not to deviate from the vieics of nature; and this obligation extends also 

 to irhole nations or states. It is seldom that nature is seen in one place 

 to produce everything necessary for the use of man; one country 

 abounds in corn, another in pastures and cattle, a third in timber and 

 metals, &c. If all those countries trade together, as is agreeable to 

 human nature, no one of them will be without such things as are use- 

 ful and necessary ; and the views of nature, our common mother, will be 

 fulfilled. Further, one country is fitter for some kind of products than 

 for another, as, for instance, fitter for the vine than for tillage. If trade 

 and barter take place, every nation, on the certainty of procuring what 

 it wants, will employ its lands and its industry in the most advantage- 



'Vattel,L.I. Sec. 280. 



