§. 81. But though these are ties upon mankind which make the conjugal bonds
more firm and lasting in a man than the other species of animals, yet it would
give one reason to inquire why this compact, where procreation and education
are secured and inheritance taken care for, may not be made determinable,
either by consent, or at a certain time, or upon certain conditions, as well as
any other voluntary compacts, there being no necessity, in the nature of the
thing, nor to the ends of it, that it should always be for life — I mean,
to such as are under no restraint of any positive law which ordains all such
contracts to be perpetual.
