University of Virginia Library

2339. EARTH, Belongs to the Living.—

The ground * * * I suppose to be selfevident,
“that the earth belongs in usufruct
to the living”;
that the dead have neither
powers nor rights over it. The portion occupied
by any individual ceases to be his
when himself ceases to be, and reverts to the
society.—
To James Madison. Washington ed. iii, 103. Ford ed., v, 116.
(P. 1789)