Whence it is plain, that at
least a great part of the land lay in common; that the
inhabitants valued it not, nor claimed property in any more than
they made use of. But when there was not room enough in the same
place, for their herds to feed together, they by consent, as
Abraham and Lot did, Gen. xiii. 5. separated and inlarged
their pasture, where it best liked them. And for the same reason
Esau went from his father, and his brother, and planted in
mount Seir, Gen. xxxvi. 6.
Sec. 39. And thus, without supposing any private dominion,
and property in Adam, over all the world, exclusive of all
other men, which can no way be proved, nor any one's property be
made out from it; but supposing the world given, as it was, to
the children of men in common, we see how labour could make
men distinct titles to several parcels of it, for their private
uses; wherein there could be no doubt of right, no room for
quarrel.
Sec. 40. Nor is it so strange, as perhaps before
consideration it may appear, that the property of labour should
be able to over-balance the community of land: for it is labour
indeed that puts the difference of value on every thing; and
let any one consider what the difference is between an acre of
land planted with tobacco or sugar, sown with wheat or barley,
and an acre of the same land lying in common, without any
husbandry upon it, and he will find, that the improvement of
labour makes the far greater part of the value.
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