le
case that can arise touching the rights of men, any other principle or
rule, that should arbitrarily be applied to those rights, would
necessarily conflict with it. And, as a merely arbitrary, partial and
temporary rule must, of necessity, be of less obligation than a natural,
permanent, equal and universal one, the arbitrary one becomes, in
reality, of no obligation at all, when the two come in collision.
Consequently there is, and can be, correctly speaking, _no law but
natural law_. There is no other principle or rule, applicable to the
rights of men, that is obligatory in comparison with this, in any case
whatever. And this natural law is no other than that rule of natural
justice, which results either directly from men's natural rights, or
from such acquisitions as they have a _natural_ right to make, or from
such contracts as they have a _natural_ right to enter into.

Natural law recognizes the validity of all contracts which men have a
_natural_ right to make, and which justice requires to be fulfilled:
such, for example, as contracts that render equivalent for equivalent,
and are at the same time consistent with morality, the natural rights of
men, and those rights of property, privilege, &c., which men have a
natural right to acquire by labor and contract.

Natural law, therefore, inasmuch as it recognizes the natural right of
men to enter into obligatory contracts, permits the formation of
government, founded on contract, as all our governments profess to be.
But in order that the contract of government may be valid and lawful, it
must purport to authorize nothing inconsistent with natural justice, and
men's natural rights. It cannot lawfully authorize government to destroy
or take from men their natural rights: for natural rights are
inalienable, and can no more be surrendered to government--which is but
an association of individuals--than to a single individual. They are a
necessary attribute of man's nature; and he can no more part with
them--to government or any body else--than with his nature itself. But
the contract of government may lawfully authorize the adoption of
means--not inconsistent with natural justice--for the better protection
of men's natural rights. And this is the legitimate and true object of
government. And rules and statutes, not inconsistent with natural
justice and men's natural rights, if enacted by such government, are
binding, on the ground of contract, upon those who are part