If, therefore, our so-called lawmakers really have that right of arbitrary, irresponsible dominion over us, which they claim to have, and which they habitually exercise, it must be because they own us as property.
He suggests that if lawmakers have dominion over people, it implies ownership akin to property.
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And the right is practically established only when and because the government, no longer exists to call it in question.
A man has a natural right to enforce his own rights and redress his own wrongs.
From the sale of that justice which every citizen has a right to demand, it was an easy transition to withhold or deny it.
They were even allowed to grant pardon to criminals, and to correct by their clemency the rigors of justice.