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Basis of power limitation in government according to locke

            On what basis does Locke believe that political power should be limited?.
             Upon reading Locke's Second Treatise Of Government it becomes apparent that he was .
             an advocate of the limitation of political power. Locke proposes a separation of power within .
             government as a means to satisfy this before the idea emerges in Montesquieu's writings (Gough .
             1973). Locke believed that governmental power should be vested in more than one institution in .
             order to safeguard against one institution having too great a degree of power. Locke's writing is a work against absolutism, which he saw as a sure road to tyranny. This is an issue which forms a firm basis of Locke's theory and will be discussed below.
             Locke has taken the two principle rights man enjoys in the State of Nature, the right to interpret the Law of Nature for ourselves and the right to punish anyone who goes against it, and has given them two independent institutions (Ashcraft 1987). These institutions, while both designed to be working towards the common good, have come into being in Locke's system in such a way that society is protected against abuse of this system. Locke's assumption of mans "frailty" leads him to include these insurance's against any man securing too great a degree of power. With the separation of power in Locke's system the Legislature oversee's the Executives job of policing the people while itself being dependant upon the confidence of the people. Although Lock states that this is a separation of convenience this really seems to be a side issue.
             What is certain is that Locke makes it clear that the separate bodies do not share equal power. He show's the legislative power as being "not only the supreme power of the commonwealth, but sacred and unalterable in the hands where the community have once placed it" (Locke para 134). This highlights the limitation of power that the executive is subject to. Once the legislature has interpreted the Law of Nature into it's own laws the executive is unable to change these but must carry them out as given.


Essays Related to Basis of power limitation in government according to locke

1. what basis does Locke beleive Political power should limited

On what basis does Locke believe that political power should be limited? Upon reading Locke's Second Treatise Of Government it becomes apparent that he was an advocate of the limitation of political power. ... This highlights the limitation of power that the executive is subject to. ... This provides the basis for Locke's argument of a separation of powers. ... The limitation of power uses a system of mutual checks and balances between the institutions of government and the people. ...

  • Word Count: 1374
  • Approx Pages: 5

2. What basis does Locke beleive Political power should limited

On what basis does Locke believe that political power should be limited? Upon reading Locke's Second Treatise Of Government it becomes apparent that he was an advocate of the limitation of political power. ... This highlights the limitation of power that the executive is subject to. ... This provides the basis for Locke's argument of a separation of powers. ... The limitation of power uses a system of mutual checks and balances between the institutions of government and the people. ...

  • Word Count: 1374
  • Approx Pages: 5

3. Judicial review

John Locke described a kind of a more modern proposition: the government should be divided between an executive and a legislative branch. ... The underline problem with Locke's political system is that there is nothing to prevent one branch of the government encroaching upon the rights of the other. ... According to Montesquieu, the law which is created by the legislature is applied by the executive, and the judiciary regulates the way in which the executive applies the law. ... All three bodies of the government exercise functions which should be separate in the strict sense of ...

  • Word Count: 1092
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. judicial review

John Locke described a kind of a more modern proposition: the government should be divided between an executive and a legislative branch. ... The underline problem with Locke's political system is that there is nothing to prevent one branch of the government encroaching upon the rights of the other. ... According to Montesquieu, the law which is created by the legislature is applied by the executive, and the judiciary regulates the way in which the executive applies the law. ... All three bodies of the government exercise functions which should be separate in the strict sense of ...

  • Word Count: 1067
  • Approx Pages: 4

5. State Of Nature Of 1500 - 1900 Century Philosphers

He was the first modern theorist to agree for absolute power of government. ... Descartes was disappointed with traditional philosophers and with limitation of theology. ... Locke gave us a theory of natural law; a natural right which he used to separate between true and false civil government, and to argue for the right to revolt against authoritarian government... " He that will not give just occasion to think that all government in the world is the product only of force and violence, and then men live together by no other rules but that of beats, where the strongest carries it must of ...

  • Word Count: 3568
  • Approx Pages: 14
  • Has Bibliography

6. Social Contract Rousseau

Through the grouping of citizens, each willing to surrender himself to the entire community, one is able to set limitations on their own behavior, live with others as a whole, and, in doing so, think rationally and act morally. ... Rousseau says that lawful political power does not exist in nature. ... He substitutes for the co-ordination of the legislative, the executive, and the judicial authorities, a system in which the legislative power, or Sovereign, is always supreme, the executive, or government, always secondary and derivative, and the judicial power merely a function of government. T...

  • Word Count: 7115
  • Approx Pages: 28
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Social Contract

Through the grouping of citizens, each willing to surrender himself to the entire community, one is able to set limitations on their own behavior, live with others as a whole, and, in doing so, think rationally and act morally. ... Rousseau says that lawful political power does not exist in nature. ... He substitutes for the co-ordination of the legislative, the executive, and the judicial authorities, a system in which the legislative power, or Sovereign, is always supreme, the executive, or government, always secondary and derivative, and the judicial power merely a function of government. T...

  • Word Count: 7114
  • Approx Pages: 28
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

8. William of ockham

William of Ockham William of Ockham, the Franciscan schoolman, nominalist, and "doctor invincibilis," is a revolutionary figure during his time. He is, along with Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus, among the three most prominent figures in the history of philosophy during the High Middle Ages. ...

  • Word Count: 4607
  • Approx Pages: 18

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