BOOK III PART II
elapse before these can encrease to such a de-
gree, as to disturb men in the enjoyment of
peace and concord. But though it be possible
for men to maintain a small uncultivated soci-
ety without government, it is impossible they
should maintain a society of any kind with-
out justice, and the observance of those three
fundamental laws concerning the stability of
possession, its translation by consent, and the
performance of promises. These are, there-
fore, antecedent to government, and are sup-
posed to impose an obligation before the duty
of allegiance to civil magistrates has once been
thought of. Nay, I shall go farther, and as-
sert, that government, upon its first establish-
ment, would naturally be supposed. to derive
its obligation from those laws of nature, and,
in particular, from that concerning the perfor-
mance of promises. When men have once per-