In other words, a maxim to this effect--were it to become law - that any object on which the will can be exerted must remain objectively in itself without an owner, as res nullius, is contrary to the principle of right. The tone of strictness in the paragraph betrays the severity of the regime it describes. The paragraph comes about as a conclusion to a previous section describing the limits to travelling placed on the citizens of Utopia; Hytholoday spends some time explaining the nature of this particular set of rules, the reasons for them, and the repercussions of any disobedience to them.