Two Treatises of Government · Chapter
XI: Of the Extent of the Legislative Power explained
Locke delineates the bounds of legislative power, arguing it is supreme but not arbitrary, limited by the law of nature and the public good.
What happens
Locke delineates the bounds of legislative power, arguing it is supreme but not arbitrary, limited by the law of nature and the public good. He asserts that the legislative must govern by established laws, cannot tax without consent, and cannot transfer its lawmaking authority, as it is a delegated trust from the people.
Themes in this chapter
Limited Government and Rule of Law
Locke insists the legislative must govern by promulgated standing laws, not arbitrary decrees, and is bound by the law of nature.
Consent of the Governed
Taxation requires the consent of the people or their representatives; legislative power is a delegated trust from the people.
Property and Labor
The end of government is the preservation of property; arbitrary seizure without consent subverts that end.
Key passages
“The legislative cannot transfer the power of making laws to any other hands: for it being but a delegated power from the people, they who have it cannot pass it over to others.”
The legislature cannot give its lawmaking authority to anyone else, because that authority is only lent by the people.
Locke emphasizes the non-transferable nature of delegated legislative power.
“Men therefore in society having property, they have such right to the goods, which by the law of the community are theirs, that no body hath a right to take their substance or any part of it from them, without their own consent; without this they have no property at all.”
In society, people own their goods by law, and no one can take any part without their consent; otherwise, property is meaningless.
Locke ties property rights directly to consent, especially regarding taxation.
“The obligations of the law of nature cease not in society, but only in many cases are drawn closer, and have by human laws known penalties annexed to them, to enforce their observation.”
The law of nature remains binding in society, often strengthened by human laws that add specific punishments.
Locke asserts the continuity of natural law as a limit on legislative power.