[15] And, besides these, very many
instances may be read in history.
25. The form of the dominion ought to be kept one and the same, and,
consequently, there should be but one king, and that of the same sex,
and the dominion should be indivisible. [16] But as to my saying that
the king's eldest son should succeed his father by right, or (if there
be no issue) the nearest to him in blood, it is clear as well from Chap.
VI. Sec. 13, as because the election of the king made by the multitude
should, if possible, last for ever. Otherwise it will necessarily
happen, that the supreme authority of the dominion will frequently pass
to the multitude, which is an extreme and, therefore, exceedingly
dangerous change. But those who, from the fact that the king is master
of the dominion, and holds it by absolute right, infer that he can hand
it over to whom he pleases, and that, therefore, the king's son is by
right heir to the dominion, are greatly mistaken. For the king's will
has so long the force of law, as he holds the sword of the commonwealth;
for the right of dominion is limited by power only. Therefore, a king
may indeed abdicate, but cannot hand the dominion over to another,
unless with the concurrence of the multitude or its stronger part. And
that this may be more clearly understood, we must remark, that children
are heirs to their parents, not by natural, but by civil law. For by the
power of the commonwealth alone is anyone master of definite property.
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