And to be commanded, we do consent
when that society, whereof we be a part, hath at any time before
consented, without revoking the same after by the like universal
agreement.
"Laws therefore human, of what kind soever, are available by
consent." Hooker, Ibid.
135. Though the legislative, whether placed in one or more,
whether it be always in being or only by intervals, though it be the
supreme power in every commonwealth, yet, first, it is not, nor can
possibly be, absolutely arbitrary over the lives and fortunes of the
people. For it being but the joint power of every member of the
society given up to that person or assembly which is legislator, it
can be no more than those persons had in a state of Nature before they
entered into society, and gave it up to the community. For nobody
can transfer to another more power than he has in himself, and
nobody has an absolute arbitrary power over himself, or over any
other, to destroy his own life, or take away the life or property of
another. A man, as has been proved, cannot subject himself to the
arbitrary power of another; and having, in the state of Nature, no
arbitrary power over the life, liberty, or possession of another,
but only so much as the law of Nature gave him for the preservation of
himself and the rest of mankind, this is all he doth, or can give up
to the commonwealth, and by it to the legislative power, so that the
legislative can have no more than this.
Pages:
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132