Of this double monopoly one part is disadvantageous to the people at home,the other to foreigners.For at home by their sole exportation they set what price they please on the husbandry and handiworks of the people,and by the sole importation,what price they please on all foreign commodities the people have need of,both which are ill for the people.On the contrary,by the sole selling of the native commodities abroad,and sole buying the foreign commodities upon the place,they raise the price of those,and abate the price of these,to the disadvantage of the foreigner:for where but one selleth,the merchandise is the dearer;and where but one buyeth,the cheaper:such corporations therefore are no other than monopolies,though they would be very profitable for a Commonwealth,if,being bound up into one body in foreign markets,they were at liberty at home,every man to buy and sell at what price he could.
The end then of these bodies of merchants,being not a common benefit to the whole body (which have in this case no common stock,but what is deducted out of the particular adventures,for building,buying,victualling and manning of ships),but the particular gain of every adventurer,it is reason that every one be acquainted with the employment of his own;that is,that every one be of the assembly that shall have the power to order the same;and be acquainted with their accounts.And therefore the representative of such a body must be an assembly,where every member of the body may be present at the consultations,if he will.
If a body politic of merchants contract a debt to a stranger by the act of their representative assembly,every member is liable by himself for the whole.For a stranger can take no notice of their private laws,but considereth them as so many particular men,obliged every one to the whole payment,till payment made by one dischargeth all the rest:but if the debt be to one of the company,the creditor is debtor for the whole to himself,and cannot therefore demand his debt,but only from the common stock,if there be any.
If the Commonwealth impose a tax upon the body,it is understood to be laid upon every member proportionably to his particular adventure in the company.For there is in this case no other common stock,but what is made of their particular adventures.
If a mulct be laid upon the body for some unlawful act,they only are liable by whose votes the act was decreed,or by whose assistance it was executed;for in none of the rest is there any other crime but being of the body;which,if a crime,because the body was ordained by the authority of the Commonwealth,is not his.
If one of the members be indebted to the body,he may be sued by the body,but his goods cannot be taken,nor his person imprisoned by the authority of the body;but only by authority of the Commonwealth:for they can do it by their own authority,they can by their own authority give judgement that the debt is due;which is as much as to be judge in their own cause.
These bodies made for the government of men,or of traffic,be either perpetual,or for a time prescribed by writing.But there be bodies also whose times are limited,and that only by the nature of their business.For example,if a sovereign monarch,or a sovereign assembly,shall think fit to give command to the towns and other several parts of their territory to send to him their deputies to inform him of the condition and necessities of the subjects,or to advise with him for the making of good laws,or for any other cause,as with one person representing the whole country,such deputies,having a place and time of meeting assigned them,are there,and at that time,a body politic,representing every subject of that dominion;but it is only for such matters as shall be propounded unto them by that man,or assembly,that by the sovereign authority sent for them;and when it shall be declared that nothing more shall be propounded,nor debated by them,the body is dissolved.For if they were the absolute representative of the people,then were it the sovereign assembly;and so there would be two sovereign assemblies,or two sovereigns,over the same people;which cannot consist with their peace.And therefore where there is once a sovereignty,there can be no absolute representation of the people,but by it.And for the limits of how far such a body shall represent the whole people,they are set forth in the writing by which they were sent for.For the people cannot choose their deputies to other intent than is in the writing directed to them from their sovereign expressed.
Private bodies regular and lawful are those that are constituted without letters,or other written authority,saving the laws common to all other subjects.And because they be united in one person representative,they are held for regular;such as are all families,in which the father or master ordereth the whole family.For he obligeth his children,and servants,as far as the law permitteth,though not further,because none of them are bound to obedience in those actions which the law hath forbidden to be done.In all other actions,during the time they are under domestic government,they are subject to their fathers and masters,as to their immediate sovereigns.For the father and master being before the institution of Commonwealth absolute sovereigns in their own families,they lose afterward no more of their authority than the law of the Commonwealth taketh from them.