BOOK III PART II
manner as that above-mentioned. The same
persons, who execute the laws of justice, will
also decide all controversies concerning them;
and being indifferent to the greatest part of the
society, will decide them more equitably than
every one would in his own case.
By means of these two advantages, in the ex-
ecution and decision of justice, men acquire a
security against each others weakness and pas-
sion, as well as against their own, and under
the shelter of their governors, begin to taste
at ease the sweets of society and mutual assis-
tance. But government extends farther its ben-
eficial influence; and not contented to protect
men in those conventions they make for their
mutual interest, it often obliges them to make
such conventions, and forces them to seek their
own advantage, by a concurrence in some com-