§. 72. Though the obligation on the parents to bring up their children, and
the obligation on children to honour their parents, contain all the power, on
the one hand, and submission on the other, which are proper to this relation,
yet there is another power ordinarily in the father, whereby he has a tie on
the obedience of his children, which, though it be common to him with other
men, yet the occasions of showing it, almost constantly happening to fathers in
their private families and in instances of it elsewhere being rare, and less
taken notice of, it passes in the world for a part of "paternal
jurisdiction." And this is the power men generally have to bestow their
estates on those who please them best. The possession of the father being the
expectation and inheritance of the children ordinarily, in certain proportions,
according to the law and custom of each country, yet it is commonly in the
father's power to bestow it with a more sparing or liberal hand, according as
the behaviour of this or that child hath comported with his will and humour.
