It is this that makes them so willingly give up
every one his single power of punishing to be exercised by such
alone as shall be appointed to it amongst them, and by such rules as
the community, or those authorised by them to that purpose, shall
agree on. And in this we have the original right and rise of both
the legislative and executive power as well as of the governments
and societies themselves.
128. For in the state of Nature to omit the liberty he has of
innocent delights, a man has two powers. The first is to do whatsoever
he thinks fit for the preservation of himself and others within the
permission of the law of Nature; by which law, common to them all,
he and all the rest of mankind are one community, make up one
society distinct from all other creatures, and were it not for the
corruption and viciousness of degenerate men, there would be no need
of any other, no necessity that men should separate from this great
and natural community, and associate into lesser combinations. The
other power a man has in the state of Nature is the power to punish
the crimes committed against that law. Both these he gives up when
he joins in a private, if I may so call it, or particular political
society, and incorporates into any commonwealth separate from the rest
of mankind.
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