PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

47. VI Population, Pr(Jll;lIion,
laws of many states are calculated merely to counteract
the restrictions which haye been imposeO by oth.
er states. ( Perhaps the only way in which the inler.
posirio ~; of law is sal clary in trade, is in th""! prevention
of fraud!'.)
(' Next to the indispensible reqU!~1tes oi internal
'peace and security. the chief advantage which can
be derived to population from the interference of
law, appears to me to consist in the encouragement
of ogricuit!lTe.) This, at least, is the direct way of increasing
the ilumber of the people ;) every other
mode. being effectual only by its influence upon this.
Now-the principal expedient by which such a purpoSe
can be promoted, is to adjust the laws of prop.
erty, as nearly as possic.le, to the following rules:
{.~nt'! ~'to give to the occupier all the power over
11'tbe soil which is nece~sary for its perfect cultivation ;"
1
secondly, "to assign the whole profit of every im­
! provement to the persons by whose activity it is car­
I . ried on." What we call property in land, as hath
; been observed above~ is power over it. Now it is indifferent
::0 the public in whose hands thi.~ power resides,
if it be rightly used: it matters not to whom
the land belongs, if it be well cultivated. When we
lament tbat great estates are often united in the ~ame
hand, or complain that one man possesses what \vould
be sufficient for a thousand, we suffer ourselves to
be misled by words. The owner of ten thousand
pounds a year consumes little more of the produce of
the soil than the owner of ten. pounds a year. If the
cultivation be equal, the estate, in the hands of one
great lord, affords !-ubshtence and employment to the
same number of persons as ·it would do if it were divided
amongst, a hundred proprietors. In like manner
we ought to judge of the effect upon the public
jnt~rest, which may arise from lands being holden by
the king, or by the subject.; by private persons, or
by corporations; by laymen, or occlesiastics; in fee,
or for life; by virtue of office, or in right of inher.­
itance. I do not meall th:lt these varieties make no
clliference, but I mean that all the difference they do