ORAL ARGUMENT OF JAMES C. CARTER, ESQ. 163 



flicting settlements, and consequent war with each other, to establish a principle 

 which all should acknowledge as the law by which the right of acquisition, which 

 they all asserted, should be regulated as between themselves. This principle was 

 that discovery gave title to the government by whose subjects, or by whose author- 

 ity, it was made, agaiust all other European governments, which title might be con- 

 summated by possession. The exclusion of all other Europeans necessarily gave to 

 the nation making the discovery the sole right of acquiring the soil from the natives 

 and establishing settlements upon it. 



It was a right with which no Europeans could interfere. It was a right which all 

 asserted for themselves, and to the assertion of which by others all assented. 



Property in newly discovered lands is founded, therefore, upon the 

 right of discovery, which gives the title, although a failure to occupy 

 may be evidence of abandonment. There is another circumstance that 

 I may mention as having a tendency to support the line of argument 

 which 1 am following. It will be remembered that at this period, when 

 the riches of the ]Sew World were dicovered and there was danger of 

 so much strife, one of the Popes made a grant to Spain of all undiscov- 

 ered regions of the globe west of the 100th meridian of longitude. 

 Well, we should perhaps not recognize such a title in these days; but 

 it will be remembered that at that time the authority of the Papacy 

 was more highly held than now — 



The Peesident. It was more universal. 



Mr. Carter. Yes, more universal. And who wiU say that when the 

 object is to find a rule to prevent war, the acquisition of a title like that 

 would be insignificant? No, it was respected by a great many, and it 

 was not so absolutely unfounded and preposterous as some at the pres- 

 ent day may think it; it had a weight and importance at that time 

 which we cannot fully ajipreciate now. These things go to show that 

 the institution of property was to prevent strife, and they prove that 

 we must find an owner for everything. 



But, so far as the prevention of strife is concerned, it is not necessary 

 that private, individual, property should exist. The institution of prop- 

 erty is necessary, but there are two forms of that institution. One is 

 community property, and the other private, individual, property; and 

 the single necessity of the prevention of warfare and strife would be 

 satisfied by the institution of community property. And, accordingly, 

 we find that in the earlier periods of society, under rude social condi- 

 tions, private individual property did not exist, but the community, the 

 tribe, the gens, owned aU the property, and there was substantially no 

 individual property. 



Whence, then, have we derived that other form of projDcrty called 

 private, individual, property? It does not proceed upon the ground 

 of the necessity for the prevention of strife and warfare; it comes from 

 another circumstance to which I will now call the attention of the Tri- 

 bunal. That circumstance is the necessity of civilization, and the 

 irresistible tendency towards it, coming from the fact that man has 

 a desire to better his condition, to enjoy more and more the good 

 things of life. He has a desire to establish a family and to increase 

 the number of those dependent upon him, and to these ends he 

 is ambitious for more and more property, and it is upon those tend- 

 encies that the civilization of the earth is founded. Civilization brings 

 along with it several distinguishing features. In the first place, there 

 comes a desire for fixed habitations, instead of a wandering life. Then 

 there follows a great increase in the population of the earth. In the 

 next place there comes the division of employments and the exchange 

 of products, which is called commerce; and, lastly, the introduction and 

 use of money. AU these elements are features of civilization ; they 



