lace, there are no natural rights, capable of being defined,
which are not in civilized countries under the sanction and protection of
law; secondly, it is an open question whether some generally recognized
rights--as, for instance, that of property--exist independently of law; and,
thirdly, it may be maintained, on the other hand, that law is powerless to
create, competent only to declare rights.

One chief agency of law as to rights is exercised in limiting *natural
rights*. Considered simply in his relation to outward nature, a man has a
manifest right to whatever he can make tributary to his enjoyment or
well-being. But his fellow-men have the same right. If, then, there be a
restricted supply of what he and they may claim by equal right, the
alternative is, on the one hand, usurpation or perpetual strife, or, on
the other, an adjustment by which each shall yield a part of what he might
claim were there no fellow-claimant, and thus each shall have his
proportion of what belongs equally to all. To make this adjustment
equitably is the province of law. The problem which it attempts to solve
is, How may each individual citizen secure the fullest amount of liberty
and of material well-being, consistent with the admitted or established
rights of others? Under republican institutions, this problem presents
itself in the simplest form, society being in principle an equal
partnership, in which no one man can claim a larger dividend than another.
But where birth or condition confers certain peculiar rights, the problem
must be so modified, that the rights conceded to the common citizens shall
not interfere with these inherited or vested rights. In either case, the
rights of each member of the community are bounded only by the
conterminous rights of others. Obligations correspond to rights. Each
member of the community is under obligation, always to refrain from
encroachment on the rights of others, and in many cases to aid in securing
or defending those rights, he on like occasions and in similar ways having
his own rights protected by others.

We will consider separately *rights appertaining to the person, to
property, and to reputation*.

1. *Rights appertaining to the person.* The most essential of these is the
right to life, on which of course all else that can be enjoyed is
contingent. This right is invaded, not only by direct violence, but by
whatever may impair or endanger health. The corresponding obligation of
the