Now the rights of perſons that are commanded to be obſerved by the municipal law are of two ſorts; firſt, ſuch as are due from every citizen, which are uſually called civil duties; and, ſecondly, ſuch as belong to him, which is the more popular acceptation of rights or jura. Both may indeed be comprized in this latter diviſion; for, as all ſocial duties are of a relative nature, at the ſame time that they are due from one man, or ſet of men, they muſt alſo be due to another. But I apprehend it will be more clear and eaſy, to conſider many of them as duties required from, rather than as rights belonging to, particular perſons. Thus, for inſtance, allegiance is uſually, and therefore moſt eaſily, conſidered as the duty of the people, and protection as the duty of the magiſtrate; and yet they are, reciprocally, the rights as well as duties of each other. Allegiance is the right of the magiſtrate, and protection the right of the people.
Persons alſo are divided by the law into either natural perſons, or artificial. Natural perſons are ſuch as the God of nature formed us; artificial are ſuch as are created and deviſed by human laws for the purpoſes of ſociety and government; which are called corporations or bodies politic.
The rights of perſons conſidered in their natural capacities are alſo of two ſorts, abſolute, and relative. Abſolute, which are ſuch as appertain and belong to particular men, merely as individuals or ſingle perſons: relative, which are incident to them as members of ſociety, and ſtanding in various relations to each other. The firſt, that is, abſolute rights, will be the ſubject of the preſent chapter.
By the abſolute rights of individuals we mean thoſe which are ſo in their primary and ſtricteſt ſenſe; ſuch as would belong to their perſons merely in a ſtate of nature, and which every man is intitled to enjoy whether out of ſociety or in it. But with regard to the abſolute duties, which man is bound to perform con-
