g else was in common, maintained
a kind of permanent property in their dwellings, especially for the
protection of their young; that the birds of the air had nests, and the
beasts of the fields had caverns, the invasion of which they esteemed a
very flagrant injustice, and would sacrifice their lives to preserve them.
Hence a property was soon established in every man's house and homestead;
which seem to have been originally mere temporary huts or movable cabins,
suited to the design of Providence for more speedily peopling the earth,
and suited to the wandering life of their owners, before any extensive
property in the soil or ground was established.

There can be no doubt but that movables of every kind became sooner
appropriated than the permanent, substantial soil; partly because they
were more susceptible of a long occupancy, which might be continue for
months together without any sensible interruption, and at length, by
usage, ripen into an established right; but, principally, because few of
them could be fit for use till improved and meliorated by the bodily labor
of the occupant; which bodily labor, bestowed upon any subject which
before lay in common to all men, is universally allowed to give the
fairest and most reasonable title to an exclusive property therein.

The article of food was a more immediate call, and therefore a more early
consideration. Such as were not contented with the spontaneous product of
the earth, sought for a more solid refreshment in the flesh of beasts,
which they obtained by hunting. But the frequent disappointments incident
to that method of provision, induced them to gather together such animals
as were of a more tame and sequacious nature and to establish themselves
in a less precarious manner, partly by the milk of the dams, and partly by
the flesh of the young.

The support of these their cattle made the article of water also a very
important point. And, therefore, the book of Genesis, (the most venerable
monument of antiquity, considered merely with a view to history,) will
furnish us with frequent instances of violent contentions concerning
wells; the exclusive property of which appears to have been established in
the first digger or occupant, even in places where the ground and herbage
remained yet in common. Thus, we find Abraham, who was but a sojourner,
asserting his right to a well in the country of Abimelech, and exacting an
oath for his security "because he had digged t