9. In the first ages of society, the proprietors could not be
distinguished from the cultivators.
Hitherto we have not distinguished the husbandman from the
proprietor of the land; and in the first origin they were not in
fact so distinguished. It is by the labour of those who have
first cultivated the fields, and who have inclosed them to secure
their harvest, that all land has ceased to be common, and that a
property in the soil has been established. Until societies have
been formed, and until the pubic strength, or the laws, becoming
superior to the force of individuals, have been able to guarantee
to every one the tranquil possession of his property, against all
invasion from without; the property in a field could only be
secured as it had been acquired, by continuing to cultivate it;
the proprietor could not be assured of having his field
cultivated by the help of another; and that person taking all the
trouble, could not easily have comprehended that the whole
harvest did not belong to him. On the other hand, in this early
age, when every industrious man would find as much land as he
wanted, he would not be tempted to labour for another. It
necessarily follows, that every proprietor must cultivate his own
field or abandon it entirely.
