ᏢᎪᎡᎢ II. 3. &c. over beasts. 9. This right of conquest, as it maketh one man master over another, so also maketh it a man to be master of the irrational creatures. For if a The title of man, man in the state of nature be in hostility with men, and thereby have lawful title to subdue or kill, according as his own conscience and discretion shall suggest unto him for his safety and benefit, much more may he do the same to beasts; that is to say, save and preserve for his own service, according to his discretion, such as are of nature apt to obey, and commodious for use; and to kill and destroy, with perpetual war, all other, as fierce, and noisome to him. And this dominion is therefore of the law of nature, and not of the divine law positive. For if there had been no such right before the revealing of God's will in the Scripture, then should no man, to whom the Scripture hath not come, have right to make use of those his creatures, either for his food or sustenance. And it were a hard condition of mankind, that a fierce and savage beast should with more right kill a man, than a man a beast. 4. The dominion over the child, &c. CHAPTER IV. 1. The dominion over the child, &c. 2. Pre-eminence of sex giveth not the child to the father, rather than to the mother. 3. The title of the father or mother, &c. 4. The child of a woman-servant, &c. 5. The right to the child given from the mother, &c. 6. The child of the concubine, &c. 7. The child of the husband and the wife, &c. 8. The father, or he or she that bringeth up the child, have absolute power over him. 9. Freedom in subjects what it is. 10. A great family is a patrimonial kingdom. 11. Succession of the sovereign power, &c. 12. Though the successor be not declared, yet there is always one to be presumed. 13. The children preferred to the succession, &c. 14. The males before the females. 15. The eldest before the rest of the brothers. 16. The brother next to the children. 17. The succession of the possessor, &c. PART II. 1. OF three ways by which a man becometh subject to another, mentioned section 2, chapter the last, namely, voluntary offer, captivity and birth, the former two have been spoken of, under the name of subjects, and servants. In the next place, we are to set down the third way of subjection, under the name of children, and by what title one man cometh to have propriety in a child, that proceedeth from the common generation of two; to wit, of male and female. And considering men again dissolved from all covenants one with another, and that (Part I. chap. IV. sect. 2) every man by the law of nature, hath right or propriety to his own body, the child ought rather to be the propriety of the mother, of whose body it is part, till the time of separation, than of the father. For the understanding therefore of the right that a 4. man or woman hath to his or their child, two things PART II. are to be considered; first, what title the mother, or any other, originally hath, to a child new born : secondly, how the father, or any other man, pretendeth by the mother. of sex giveth to the father, rather than 2. For the first, they that have written of this Pre-eminence subject, have made generation to be a title of do- not the child minion over persons, as well as the consent of the persons themselves. And because generation giveth to the mother. title to two, namely, father and mother, whereas dominion is indivisible, they therefore ascribe dominion over the child to the father only, ob præstantiam sexús; but they show not, neither can I find out by what coherence, either generation inferreth dominion, or advantage of so much strength, which, for the most part, a man hath more than a woman, should generally and universally entitle the father to a propriety in the child, and take it away from the mother. the father or 3. The title to dominion over a child, proceedeth The title of not from the generation, but from the preservation mother, &c. of it; and therefore in the estate of nature, the mother, in whose power it is to save or destroy it, hath right thereto by that power, according to that which hath been said, Part I. chapter 1. sect. 13. And if the mother shall think fit to abandon, or expose her child to death, whatsoever man or woman shall find the child so exposed, shall have the same right which the mother had before; and for this same reason, namely, for the power not of generating, but preserving. And though the child thus preserved, do in time acquire strength, whereby he might pretend equality with him or her that hath preserved him, yet shall that pretence be 4. PART II. thought unreasonable, both because his strength was the gift of him, against whom he pretendeth, and also because it is to be presumed, that he which giveth sustenance to another, whereby to strengthen him, hath received a promise of obedience in consideration thereof. For else it would be wisdom in men, rather to let their children perish, while they are infants, than to live in their danger or subjection, when they are grown. The child of a woman servant, &c. 4. For the pretences which a man may have to dominion over a child by the right of the mother, they be of divers kinds. One by the absolute subjection of the mother; another, by some particular covenant from her, which is less than a covenant of such subjection. By absolute subjection, the master of the mother, hath right to her child, according to section 6, chapter III, whether he be the father thereof, or not. And thus the children of the servant are the goods of the master in perpetuum. The right to the 5. Of covenants that amount not to subjection child given from the mother, &c. between a man and woman, there be some which are made for a time; they are covenants of cohabitation, or else of copulation only. And in this latter case, the children pass by covenants particular. And thus in the copulation of the Amazons with their neighbours, the fathers by covenant had the male children only, the mothers retaining the females. The child of the concubine, &c. 6. And covenants of cohabitation are either for society of bed, or for society of all things; if for society of bed only, then is the woman called a concubine. And here also the child shall be his or hers, as they shall agree particularly by covenant. For although for the most part, a concubine is sup posed to yield up the right of her children to the PART II. father, yet doth not concubinate enforce so much. 4. the husband 7. But if the covenants of cohabitation be for The child of society of all things, it is necessary that but one of and the wife, &c. them govern and dispose of all that is common to them both; without which, as hath been often said before, society cannot last. And therefore the man, to whom for the most part the woman yieldeth the government, hath for the most part, also, the sole right and dominion over the children. And the man is called the husband, and the woman the wife. But because sometimes the government may belong to the wife only, sometimes also the dominion over the children shall be in her only. As in the case of a sovereign queen, there is no reason that her marriage should take from her the dominion over her children. or he or she have absolute 8. Children therefore, whether they be brought The father, up and preserved by the father, or by the mother, that bringeth or by whomsoever, are in most absolute subjection up the child, to him or her, that so bringeth them up, or pre- power over him. serveth them. And they may alienate them, that is, assign his or her dominion, by selling, or giving them, in adoption or servitude to others; or may pawn them for hostages, kill them for rebellion, or sacrifice them for peace, by the law of nature, when he or she, in his or her conscience, think it to be necessary. 9. The subjection of them who institute a com- Freedom in submonwealth amongst themselves, is no less absolute, jects what it is. than the subjection of servants. And therein they are in equal estate. But the hope of those is greater than the hope of these. For he that subjecteth himself uncompelled, thinketh there is reason he |