his being, entitled to food; that food was a product of the land,
and therefore every man was entitled to the possession of land,
otherwise his life depended upon the will of another. The Romans
acted on a different principle, which was "the spoil to the
victors." He who could not defend and retain his possessions became
the slave of the conqueror, all the rights of the vanquished passed
to the victor, who took and enjoyed as ample rights to land as
those naturally possessed by the aborigines.

The system of landholding varies in different countries, and we
cannot discover any idea of abstract right underlying the various
differing systems; they are the outcome of law, the will of the
sovereign power, which is liable to change with circumstances. The
word LAW appears to be used to express two distinct sentiments;
one, the will of the sovereign power, which being accompanied with
a penalty, bears on its face the idea that it may be broken by the
individual who pays the penalty: "Thou shalt not eat of the fruit
of the tree, for on the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die,"
was a law. All laws, whether emanating from an absolute monarch or
from the representatives of the majority of a state, are mere
expressions of the will of the sovereign power, which may be
exacted by force. The second use of the word LAW is a record of our
experience--e.g., we see the tides ebb and flow, and conclude it is
done in obedience to the will of a sovereign power; but the word in
that sense does not imply any violation or any punishment. A
distinction must also be drawn between laws and codes; the former
existed before the latter. The lex non scripta prevailed before
letters were invented. Every command of the Decalogue was issued,
and punishment followed for its breach, before the existence of the
engraved tables. The Brehon code, the Justinian code, the Draconian