Similarly it may be--I am not saying that it is--desirable, from a utilitarian point of view, to
reserve to each individual a certain sphere of personal liberty. If so, the doctrine of the Rights of
Man will be a suitable basis for the appropriate laws, even though these rights be subject to
exceptions. A utilitarian will have to examine the doctrine, considered as a basis for laws, from
the point of view of its practical effects; he cannot condemn it ab initio as contrary to his own
ethic.
C. THE SOCIAL CONTRACTIn the political speculation of the seventeenth century, there were two main types of theory as to
the origin of government. Of one type we have had an example in Sir Robert Filmer: this type
maintained that God had bestowed power on certain persons, and that these persons, or their heirs,
constituted the legitimate government, rebellion against which is not only treason, but impiety.
This view was sanctioned by sentiments of immemorial antiquity: in almost all early civilizations,
the king is a sacred person. Kings, naturally, considered it an admirable theory. Aristocracies had
motives for supporting it and motives for opposing it. In its favour was the fact that it emphasized
the hereditary principle, and that it gave august support to resistance against the upstart merchant
class. Where the middle class was more feared or hated by the aristocracy than the king was, these
motives prevailed. Where the contrary was the case, and especially where the aristocracy had a
chance of obtaining supreme power itself, it tended to oppose the king, and therefore to reject
theories of divine right.
The other main type of theory--of which Locke is a representative --maintained that civil
government is the result of a contract, and is an affair purely of this world, not something
established by divine authority. Some writers regarded the social contract as a historical fact,
others as a legal fiction; the important matter, for all of them, was to find a terrestrial origin for
governmental authority. In fact, they could not think of any alternative to divine right except the
supposed contract. It was felt by all except rebels that some reason must be found for obeying
governments, and it was not thought sufficient to say that for most people the authority of
government is con-