THE NEW LEVIATHAN 393 



found ; and compels them to see that the fulfilment of 

 mutual rights and obligations in the attainment of these 

 ends is a self-preserving necessity. 



The state is one of these larger spheres of coopera- 

 tive social action around which man has set up more or 

 less arbitrary boundaries. 



VI. The Evolution of Social Covenants 



It is evident, therefore, that men must come to some 

 sort of agreement in conduct, tacit or otherwise, before 

 they can live in association. These agreements are in 

 effect mutual stimulations and inhibitions for united 

 purposeful acts. They mean for each partner to the 

 agreement some measure of self-sacrifice and service 

 for a common gain; or a mutual surrender of indi- 

 vidual sovereignty in return for services rendered, or to 

 be rendered. 



Whenever such agreements were mutually service- 

 able, the partners to them had a better chance to sur- 

 vive, the agreement a better chance to become a custom. 

 Agreements that were not mutually serviceable, or 

 profitable, ultimately ceased to be made; their author- 

 ity then died, and new agreements, that were stronger 

 and more enduring because they were more profitable, 

 were formed instead. The framework of social life is 

 upbuilt on countless agreements of this character that 

 may or may not be formally expressed, or even recog- 

 nized as an agreement. Municipal law derives its 

 basic authority from a long line of such agreements 

 whose origin vanishes in antiquity. 



In any case, the agreement to be more constructive 

 socially must give freer play to egoistic and altruistic 



