Of the Causes which regulate the Price of Commodities; what consti- tutes Cost of Production, and what the constituent Parts of Price SECT. I.-Of Natural and Market Price.-Price defined,........................................... ib. II. That the Labour expended in Production regulates the Na- tural Price of Commodities in the early Period of Society, before the Labourer and Capitalist become distinct Per- The distinct Nature of the three different Denominations of Income or Revenue, namely, Rent, Wages, and Profit or Interest, explained and Of the Profit or Interest of Stock or Capital, SECT. I.-Profit of Stock defined, II. Of the Circumstances which regulate and determine the ordi- nary and average, or natural Rate of Profit, at any particu- II. Of the Circumstances which regulate the Amount of Rent at any particular Time or Place,.............. III.-Corollary from the preceding View of the Nature and Causes of Rent-That the Interest of the Land-Proprietors is II.-The Poor-Laws of England ill-contrived and imperfect, con- sidered as a System calculated for all Times and Circum- stances-Still worse administered.-Possibility of a Legal INTRODUCTION. PART I THE rights and duties of men in society have reference to three distinct objects;-to persons, to property, and to the whole society or state; and the science of politics,-which is the science of all that is right and wrong, and that should, or should not, be established as compulsatory law, in regard to those rights and duties,-naturally divides itself into three several parts, or branches, every one of which grows, in time, to be treated and regarded as a separate and distinct science by itself. The peculiar object of each of these three several parts, or branches, of political science may be stated as follows: 1. The first branch is that which is confined to the investigation and demonstration of all that is right and wrong, and that should, or should not, be established as compulsatory law, or "positive institution,"* in regard to those rights and duties of men in society, which relate chiefly or exclu • If I might be allowed to coin a word, which seems to me very necessary here, I would say institutional, in the sense of established and compulsatory law, and as opposed to, or distinct from, natural law or right. Established or institutional law may be right or wrong; but natural law is the same thing with natural or real right itself. b sively to the person, its safety and liberty; and which, although it has not yet been distinguished (in so far at least as I am aware) by any very appropriate, or generally recognized appellation, has nevertheless been very amply and ably treated, in all its details, by a numerous class of writers. II. The second branch of political science is that which comprises the investigation and demonstration of all that is right and wrong, and that should, or should not, be established as compulsatory or institutional law, in regard to those rights and duties of men in society which relate chiefly or exclusively to property,-i. e. transferable property or wealth, and which has lately grown up into an extensive and important separate science, under the name of "Political Economy. It might have been called, perhaps with greater propriety, the science of Political Justice; seeing that its chief object is to demonstrate what is just or unjust, in all the most important and difficult points relating to the production and distribution of property or wealth; property (i. e. vendible or transferable property) being the chief, if not the only, subject of the virtue of justice. The terms just and unjust are nearly, if not altogether, synonymous with those of honest and dishonest; and are applied chiefly, if not exclusively, to conduct or actions which have property for their subject; and it will be found that all the discussions in Political Economy are directly or indirectly connected with the illustration of justice :-as, for example, those concerning free trade, monopolies, or restrictions, and other regulations of commerce, go to show their justice or injustice, as interfering, properly or improperly, with the production and distribution, and consequently with the possession or enjoyment, and consequently with the right, to wealth or property. I may add, that those discussions, and the science itself of Political Economy, are chiefly, if not exclusively, valuable in proportion as they tend to illustrate the subject of right or justice in regard to the distribution, or acquisition and possession, of property. |