04 Locke on Rights and Limited Government
Explore Locke’s account of natural rights, consent, limited government, and when a community may resist rulers who betray their trust.
Natural rights before government
Locke begins with the , a condition without a common political ruler in which people are naturally free and equal. It is not a condition without moral rules: people can understand the through reason, and that law forbids harming another person’s life, liberty, health, or possessions.
People have a right to defend themselves and enforce the . But without an impartial judge, disputes can become dangerous and unfair. This helps explain why people may seek a political community with shared institutions.
Locke often uses the word for a person’s life, liberty, and estate collectively. People can also acquire in external goods by applying their labor to resources, subject to limits such as leaving enough and as good for others. These rights exist before government; they are not simply gifts from a ruler.
Consent and political community
People form a political community by consenting to join together. They do so to protect their rights more securely than they can in the , establishing known laws, impartial judges, and a shared power to enforce decisions.
Locke distinguishes , which makes someone a full member of a political society, from , which he associates with using a country’s territory or enjoying its protection. He notes that the scope and force of have been debated: residing under a government is not as clear or lasting a commitment as an explicit agreement.
Once a community is formed, decisions are made by majority rule. Locke’s reason is that a group could not act as one body if every decision required unanimous agreement.
The limits and purpose of government
Government is a trust created for the , especially the protection of people’s lives, liberties, and . The legislature has the highest lawmaking authority within the government, but that authority is limited.
The legislature must govern through established, public laws rather than arbitrary commands. It may not take people’s without their consent, given directly or through representatives, and it cannot transfer its lawmaking authority to a body the people did not authorize.
For example, government may collect taxes to fund public services, but Locke argues that taxation requires the people’s consent through their representatives. A ruler who seizes people’s goods at will violates the rights that government was formed to secure.
Resistance to tyranny
Political power is held in trust. If rulers seriously violate that trust, they can lose their legitimacy. Locke argues that rulers put themselves in a state of war with the people if they attempt to place themselves above the law, seize without consent, or obstruct the legislature so that rights can no longer be protected. The community may then resist and establish a new government.
This is not permission to rebel over every mistake or unpopular policy. Locke expects people to tolerate many errors; resistance becomes justified when a sustained pattern of abuses shows a design to subject them to arbitrary power. The right belongs to the people as a political community, not simply to an individual who dislikes a law.
Resistance is therefore a safeguard against tyranny. Rulers cannot claim an unlimited right to obedience after breaking the conditions that made their authority legitimate.