THIS doctrine has been qualified in practice by par-
ticular limitations to avert particular evils and to meet
exceptional emergencies. But it is limited in special
cases precisely because its general validity is regarded
as beyond controversy, and, up to the eve of the present
war, it was the working faith of modern economic
civilization. What it implies is, that the foundation
of society is found, not in functions, but in rights;
that rights are not deducible from the discharge of
functions, so that the acquisition of wealth and the
enjoyment of property are contingent upon the per-
formances of services, but that the individual enters
the world equipped with rights to the free disposal
of his property and the pursuit of his economic self-
interest, and that these rights are anterior to, and in-
dependent of, any service which he may render. True,
the service of society will, in fact, it is assumed, re-
sult from their exercise. But it is not the primary
motive and criterion of industry, but a secondary con-
sequence, which emerges incidentally through the ex-
ercise of rights, a consequence which is attained, in-
deed, in practice, but which is attained without being
sought. It is not the end at which economic activity
aims, or the standard by which it is judged, but a
by-product, as coal-tar is a by-product of the manu-

-20-