Locke on Borders of Prerogative.
Keywords:
John Locke, Algernon Sidney, Jephthah, Two Treatises of Government, historical context, prerogative, people, commonwealth, arbitrary rule, rights, liberty, law of nature, Restoration, Glorious Revolution.Abstract
The article poses a question of the correlation between the contexts of the “Two Treatises of
Government” and a number of other historical conditions, including that of our own time. The
author deals with one of the principal issues of Locke’s work, that is of the limits of prerogative
power of the magistrate. Writing on the wave of the Glorious Revolution and appealing to William III Locke contends that to prevent civil war and anarchy authorities should avoid violating
the law, while the king has a right to prerogative (i.e. to go beyond the limitations of law) only
with the view of public good and renouncing arbitrary rule. From the standpoint of human law
the people cannot be any judge in a situation of irreconcilable earthly conflict. But on the law
which is antecedent and paramount, and in an extreme situation, when the very preservation of
the people is at issue, it retains the liberty to appeal to God and take the risk of hopefully right
action.
