# Of Usurpation explained — Two Treatises of Government

> Chapter companion for Two Treatises of Government by John Locke.

## What happens

Locke distinguishes usurpation from conquest, defining usurpation as a domestic seizure of power without right. He argues that usurpation changes only the person ruling, not the form of government, and that an usurper has no claim to obedience until the people freely consent to his authority. The chapter emphasizes that lawful government requires both a proper form and a legitimate designation of rulers, rooted in the consent of the governed.

## Themes in this chapter

### Consent of the Governed

Locke asserts that an usurper has no right to be obeyed until the people have freely consented to his rule, reinforcing that legitimate authority derives from popular consent.

### Limited Government and Rule of Law

The chapter stresses that lawful government requires prescribed methods for appointing rulers, and that any exercise of power outside these laws is illegitimate.

## Key lines

> Whoever gets into the exercise of any part of the power, by other ways than what the laws of the community have prescribed, hath no right to be obeyed, though the form of the commonwealth be still preserved; since he is not the person the laws have appointed, and consequently not the person the people have consented to.

Anyone who seizes power through means not authorized by the community's laws is not entitled to obedience, even if the government's structure remains unchanged, because they are not the lawful appointee and therefore not the one the people have agreed to.

_Locke emphasizes that legitimacy requires both proper form and proper designation of rulers, rooted in popular consent._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/two_treatises_of_government_se/chapters/xvii-of-usurpation
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/two_treatises_of_government_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/two_treatises_of_government_se/chapters