Locke and Rousseau 167for its justification, but for its continued existence.
The most obvious responsibility of the the state is to protect
the life, liberty, and property of its citizens. The protection of life
is a primary function of the state. Also, liberty is a requirement
for carrying out moral dictates that a good life requires. Property,
according to Locke, exists on different levels. First one has the
property which is undeniably his own, his body. Next he has his
immediate possessions, and then those things which he removes
from nature by virtue of his own labor. Every man has a right to
as much property as he can use, or store for future use. Any
hoarding that would produce a surplus that would spoil or
become unusable violates the natural law. The concept of
money, however, complicates this issue, but Locke does not
seem to consider the hoarding of money a violation of the natural
law.
More important than the concept of the social contract as a
technically correct description of an actual event, is Locke’s
concept of the moral justification of the state according to the
concept of consent. Locke does not claim that every state came
into being through the social contract, but he does maintain that
no state has the moral right to exist except by the consent of the
governed. Sovereignty must reside in the community as a whole
and not in any power other than the people. The will of the people
is, in the final analysis, the product of the will of the majority. A
government must exist at the sufferance of the majority and in
conformity with the desires of the majority. Locke sees govern
ment as the servant of the community, not the ruler of the
community.
Locke suggests a structure for government which he feels will
be responsive to the will of the majority and will be able to carry
out the responsibilities which the majority has entrusted to it.
The primary power resides with a legislative branch. The legis
lature has the right and the responsibility to pass the laws which
provide for the common good. Legislatures are limited to just
that end; they do not have arbitrary power to pass laws which are
contrary to the public good. Also, the legislature is to be a
separate branch of government and cannot exercise arbitrary
power. The legislature cannot take a person’s property without
consent, and cannot transfer its lawmaking power to any other
entity.