第43章

Otherdifficultiesmightberaised:butweneednotpursuethem，forifFreedombetakensimplytomeanthatoneman’sactionsaretobeaslittleaspossiblerestrainedbyothers，itisobviouslymorefullyrealisedwithoutappropriation。Andifitbesaidthatitincludes，besidethis，facilityandsecurityinthegratificationofdesires，andthatitisFreedominthissensethatwethinkshouldbeequallydistributed，andthatthiscannotberealisedwithoutappropriation；thenitmaybereplied，thatinasocietywherenearlyallmaterialthingsarealreadyappropriated，thiskindofFreedomisnotandcannotbeequallydistributed。Amanbornintosuchasociety，withoutinheritance，isnotonlyfairlessfreethanthosewhopossessproperty，butheislessfreethaniftherehadbeennoappropriation。Itmaybesaidthat，havingfreedomofcontract，hewillgivehisservicesinexchangefortilemeansofsatisfyinghiswants；andthatthisexchangemustnecessarilygivehimmorethanhecouldhavegotifhehadbeenplacedintheworldbyhimself；that，infact，anyhumansocietyalwaysrendersthepartoftheearththatitinhabitsmorecapableofaffordinggratificationofdesirestoeachandallofitslater-bornmembersthanitwouldotherwisebe。Buthowevertruethismaybeasageneralrule，itisobviouslynotsoinallcases:asmenaresometimesunabletoselltheirservicesatall，andoftencanonlyobtaininexchangeforthemaninsufficientsubsistence。And，evengrantingittobetrue，itdoesnotprovethatsociety，byappropriation，hasnotinterferedwiththenaturalfreedomofitspoorer。members:butonlythatitcompensatesthemforsuchinterference，andthatthecompensationisadequate:anditmustbeevidentthatifcompensationintheformofmaterialcommoditiescanbejustlygivenforanencroachmentonFreedom，therealisationofFreedomcannotbetheoneultimateendofdistributiveJustice。

Itseems，then，thatthoughFreedomisanobjectofkeenandgeneraldesire，andanimportantsourceofhappiness，bothinitselfandindirectlyfromthesatisfactionofnaturalimpulseswhichitallows，theattempttomakeitthefundamentalnotionoftheoreticalJurisprudenceisattendedwithinsuperabledifficulties:

andthateventheNaturalRightswhichitclaimstocovercannotbebroughtunderitexceptinaveryforcedandarbitrarymanner。Butfurther，evenifthiswereotherwise，anequaldistributionofFreedomdoesnotseemtoexhaustournotionofJustice。IdealJustice，aswecommonlyconceiveit，seemstodemandthatnotonlyFreedombutallotherbenefitsandburdensshouldbedistributed，ifnotequally，atanyratejustly，——JusticeindistributionbeingregardedasnotidenticalwithEquality，butmerelyexclusiveofarbitraryinequality。

How，then，shallwefindtheprincipleofthishighestandmostcomprehensiveideal？

Weshallbeledtoit，Ithink，byreferringagaintooneofthegroundsofobligationtorenderservices，whichwasnoticedinthelastchapter:theclaimofGratitude。Itthereappearedthatwehavenotonlyanaturalimpulsetorequitebenefits，butalsoaconvictionthatsuchrequitalisaduty，anditsomissionblameworthy，tosomeextentatleast；thoughwefinditdifficulttodefinetheextent。

Nowitseemsthatwhenwe，sotosay，universalisethisimpulseandconviction，wegettheelementinthecommonviewofJustice，whichwearenowtryingtodefine。Forifwetaketheproposition`thatgooddonetoanyindividualoughttoberequitedbyhim’，andleaveouttherelationtotheindividualineithertermoftheproposition，weseemtohaveanequallystrongconvictionofthetruthofthemoregeneralstatement`thatgooddeedsoughttoberequited’。Andifwetakeintoconsiderationallthedifferentkindsanddegreesofservices，uponthemutualexchangeofwhichsocietyisbased，wegettheproposition`thatmenoughttoberewardedinproportiontotheirdeserts’。AndthiswouldbecommonlyheldtobethetrueandsimpleprincipleofdistributioninanycasewheretherearenoclaimsarisingfromContractorCustomtomodifyitsoperation。

Forexample，itwouldbeadmittedthat——iftherehasbeennopreviousarrangement——theprofitsofanyworkorenterpriseshouldbedividedamongthosewhohavecontributedtoitssuccessinproportiontotheworthoftheirservices。Anditmaybeobserved，thatsomethinkersmaintainthepropositiondiscussedintheprevioussection——thatLawoughttoaimatsecuringthegreatestpossibleFreedomforeachindividual——notasabsoluteandaxiomatic，butasderivativefromtheprinciplethatDesertoughttoberequited；ont