umptuary laws, all restraints upon any traffic,
bargain, or contract, that was naturally lawful,[117] all restraints
upon men's natural rights, the whole catalogue of _mala prohibita_, and
all taxation to which the taxed parties had not individually, severally,
and freely consented, would be at an end; because all such legislation
implies a violation of the rights of a greater or less minority. This
minority would disregard, trample upon, or resist, the execution of such
legislation, and then throw themselves upon a jury of the whole people
for justification and protection. In this way all legislation would be
nullified, except the legislation of that general nature which
impartially protected the rights, and subserved the interests, of all.
The only legislation that could be sustained, would probably be such as
tended directly to the maintenance of justice and liberty; such, for
example, as should contribute to the enforcement of contracts, the
protection of property, and the prevention and punishment of acts
intrinsically criminal. In short, government in practice would be
brought to the necessity of a strict adherence to natural law, and
natural justice, instead of being, as it now is, a great battle, in
which avarice and ambition are constantly fighting for and obtaining
advantages over the natural rights of mankind.

[Footnote 117: Such as restraints upon banking, upon the rates of
interest, upon traffic with foreigners, &c., &c.]

APPENDIX.

TAXATION.

It was a principle of the Common Law, as it is of the law of nature, and
of common sense, that no man can be taxed without his personal consent.
The Common Law knew nothing of that system, which now prevails in
England, of _assuming_ a man's own consent to be taxed, because some
pretended representative, whom he never authorized to act for him, has
taken it upon himself to consent that he may be taxed. That is one of
the many frauds on the Common Law, and the English constitution, which
have been introduced since Magna Carta. Having finally established
itself in England, it has been stupidly and servilely copied and
submitted to in the United States.

If the trial by jury were reestablished, the Common Law principle of
taxation would be reestablished with it; for it is not to be supposed
that juries would enforce a tax upon an individual which he had never
agreed to pay. Taxation without consent is as plainly robbery, when
enforced against one man, as