On Property And Necessity

But cautions ought to be had, for fear this license should be abused: of which the principal is, to try, in every way, whether the necessity can be avoided by any other means; for instance, by making application to the magistrate, or even by trying whether the use of the thing can, by entreaties, be obtained from the proprietor. Plato permits water to be fetched from the well of a neighbour upon this condition alone, that the person asking for such permission shall dig in his own well in search of water as far as the chalk: and Solon, that he shall dig in his own well as far as forty cubits. Upon which Plutarch adds, that he judged that necessity was to be relieved, not laziness to be encouraged.

— William Cobbett, The Poor Man’s Friend