–Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, Book III, Ch. 9
Well, just call me weak and simple minded! I think we’re getting there!
1. And first of an unlawful taking. The right of property in all external things being solely acquired by occupancy, as has been formerly stated, and preserved and transferred by grants, deeds, and wills, which are a continuation of that occupancy, it follows as a necessary consequence, that when I once have gained a rightful possession of any goods or chattels, [one who] either by fraud or force dispossesses me of them is guilty of a transgression against the law of society, which is a kind of secondary law of nature. For there must be an end of all social commerce between man and man, unless private possessions be secured from unjust invasions: and, if an acquisition of goods by either force or fraud were allowed to be a sufficient title, all property would soon be confined to the most strong, or the most cunning, and the weak and simpleminded part of mankind (which is by far the most numerous division) could never be secure of their possessions.
–Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, Book III, Ch. 9 Well, just call me weak and simple minded! I think we’re getting there!
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