For it is not the "social
state" but the "civil state" that is opposed to the "state of nature";
for in the "state of nature" there may well be society of some kind,
but there is no "civil" society, as an institution securing the mine
and thine by public laws. It is thus that right, viewed under
reference to the state of nature, is specially called private right.
The whole of the principles of right will therefore fall to be
expounded under the two subdivisions of private right and public
right.
CH1
FIRST PART. PRIVATE RIGHT.
The System of those Laws Which Require No External Promulgation.
CHAPTER I. Of the Mode of Having Anything External as One's Own.
1. The Meaning of "Mine" in Right
(Meum Juris).
Anything is "Mine" by right, or is rightfully mine, when I am so
connected with it, that if any other person should make use of it
without my consent, he would do me a lesion or injury. The
subjective condition of the use of anything is possession of it.
An external thing, however as such could only be mine, if I may
assume it to be possible that I can be wronged by the use which
another might make of it when it is not actually in my possession.
Hence it would be a contradiction to have anything external as one's
own, were not the conception of possession capable of two different
meanings, as sensible possession that is perceivable by the senses,
and rational possession that is perceivable only by the intellect.
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