is God's temple; that the parents should give their confent, as they are to their children in the place of God; that their goods fhould be in common. As the man is by divine appointment the head of the wife, he has over her a power proportioned to the nature of the union; and this power is the foundation of that authority which the civil laws give to the husband.

By the conjunction of the man and woman children are produced, which is the foundation of the feveral duties and obligations between parents and children; and is the principle upon which depends all that the civil laws have ordained concerning the effects of paternal power; fuch as the right of the parents for the conduct and education of their children, for the choice of their marriage, for the adminiftration and enjoyment of their goods; also, the obedience of children to parents, their right to their goods and eftates after death,

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death, their right to food and raiment during the parent's life, &c.

The tie of birth which unites the fathers and mothers to their children, binds them alfo to those who are born and defcended from their children. And this conjunction makes all the defcendents to be looked upon as children; and their ancestors in the lines afcending, to be reckoned as fathers and mothers. And as these defcendents marry, they occafion another alliance called affinity. These relations of kindred and affinity are the foundation of several laws.

Since the obligations of marriage and birth, of kindred and affinity, are limited between certain perfons, and God has placed men in fociety, to unite them together by mutual love, in fuch a manner that each man should be disposed to shew to every other man the effects of this love, as occafions may require; therefore he hath made

upon

made a fecond kind of obligations neceffary, which ties all forts of perfons nearer together after a different manner, and many times those that are ftrangers to one anther. To found this fecond kind of obligation, God has multiplied the wants of men, and made them neceffary to one another for fupplying all their wants; and there are two ways he makes use of to lay them fuch kinds of obligations as he defigns for them. The first way is by ranging perfons in fociety, wherein he has affigned each person his proper place, so as to fignify to him, by his fituation, the relation he ftands in to others, and what are the duties peculiar to that ftation wherein he is placed. Every man has his particular poft affigned him; either by birth, education, or inclination; or by the effects of that wife conduct which difpofes of men's fortunes in the world. The fecond way is the difpofing of events, and conjunctures of affairs, which determine every man to fome peculiar obligations, according to the E 2

dif

different occafions and circumftances he meets withal. It is neceffary to keep every man within his proper bounds; hence the divine inftitution of government, and the authority of the higher powers; hence arife the distinctions between princes and subjects, between those who are in dignities and public offices and private persons, and the mutual obligations of each. By thefe ties God engages men to all their different duties; and in each obligation he has laid the foundation of those duties that depend upon it. In thefe fources we difcover the principle and design of the laws, according to the obligation to which they have a reference. These obligations are the foundation of the CIVIL LAW. Our obligations or ties to God our creator, to one another in general, to each other in particular, conftitute the laws for the direction and government of man's life. obligations or laws receive particular defignations, according to the nature of the

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fubject

fubject matter about which they are converfant. When they relate more immediately to God and religion, they are ftiled the CANON or ECCLESIASTICAL LAW; when they concern men, as members of fmaller and larger focieties, they are called the CIVIL, MUNICIPAL or COMMON LAW. But as the world is now divided into many kingdoms or focieties, the obligations of one kingdom to another are termed Jus GENTIUM, or THE LAW OF NATIONS. What regulates the reciprocal duties of the king and his fubjects, is called the IMPERIAL, STATE, or STATUTE LAW.

There are three forts of things which difturb the order of a fociety; fuits, crimes, and wars.

Suits are of two forts, according to the two ways wherein men differ and attack one another. Thofe which concern men's intereft are called civil caufes. Those which