§. 117. And this has generally given the occasion to the mistake in this
matter; because commonwealths not permitting any part of their dominions to be
dismembered, nor to be enjoyed by any but those of their community, the son
cannot ordinarily enjoy the possessions of his father but under the same terms
his father did, by becoming a member of the society, whereby he puts himself
presently under the government he finds there established, as much as any other
subject of that commonweal. And thus the consent of free men, born under
government, which only makes them members of it, being given separately in
their turns, as each comes to be of age, and not in a multitude together,
people take no notice of it, and thinking it not done at all, or not necessary,
conclude they are naturally subjects as they are men.