Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-mwx4w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-25T06:14:01.617Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Individual Human Rights in John Locke's two Treatises of Government

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2009

Franciszek Przetacznik
Get access

Extract

John Locke's Two Treatises of Government, published in 1690, exerted a profound influence upon such great instruments on human rights as: The American Declaration of Independence of 4 July 1776; The French Declaration on the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 26 August 1789; The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December 1948; and The International Covenants on Human Rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 16 December 1966. The reflection of many ideas contained in the Two Treatises of Government in these Instruments on human rights is so obvious that it would be no exaggeration to say that Locke is their spiritual father, although so far this credit is not yet given to him explicitly.

Type
Articles
Information
Netherlands International Law Review , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , August 1978 , pp. 195 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © T.M.C. Asser Press 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Fraser, A.C., Locke, p. 297 (Kennikat Press, London 1970).Google Scholar

2. Commager, H.S., 1 Documents of American History, p. 100 (New York 1963)Google Scholar; Adler, M.J. and Gorman, W., The American Testament p. 17 (New York 1975).Google Scholar

3. Peaslee, A.J., 2 Constitutions of Nations p. 6 (The Hague 1956)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hughes, P.L. and Fries, R.F., European Civilization, Basic Historical Documents p. 146 (Totowa, New York 1965).Google Scholar

4. Cranston, M., What Are Human Rights? p. 87 (New York 1973).Google Scholar

5. United Nations Juridical Yearbook 1966 p. 170 (United Nations, New York 1968).Google Scholar

6. Locke, J., Two Treatises of Government, (ed. by Laslett, P.) p. 227 (New York 1965).Google Scholar

7. Ibid., at p. 213.

8. Ibid., at p. 176.

9. Ibid., at p. 177.

10. Filmer, R., Patriarcha and Other Political Works, (ed. by Laslett, P.) (Oxford 1949).Google Scholar

11. Locke, , supra n. 6, at p. 178.Google Scholar

12. Ibid., at pp. 218, 242–245.

13. Locke, J., The Second Treatise of Government, (ed. by Peardon, T.P.) p. 85 (New York 1952).Google Scholar

14. Locke, , supra n. 6, at pp. 242–243.Google Scholar

15. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 6.Google Scholar

16. Locke, , supra n. 6, at p. 214.Google Scholar

17. Locke, , supra n. 13, at pp. 5 and 6.Google Scholar

18. Ibid., at p. 5.

19. Ibid., at p. 96.

20. Ibid.

21. Ibid., at p. 15.

22. The Bible, Designed To Read As Living Literature, The Old and New Testaments in the King James Version, This Edition was Arranged and Edited by Bates, E.S., p. 107 (New York 1965)Google Scholar; Aquinas, T., summa Theologica, II, Q. p. 64Google Scholar; Sulivan, J.V., “The Immortality of Euthanasia”, in Kohl, M. (ed.), Beneficient Euthanasia pp. 19–22 (Buffalo 1975)Google Scholar. Cf., also Plato, , Laws, trans, by Sanders, T.J. p. 391 (Penguin Books 1970)Google Scholar: More, T., Utopia, trans, by Turner, P. p. 50 (Penguin Books 1973)Google Scholar; Kant, I., Lectures on Ethics pp. 148–154 (New York 1963).Google Scholar

23. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 11.Google Scholar

24. Ibid., at p. 11.

25. Ibid., at p. 104.

26. Ibid., at pp. 5 and 6.

27. Ibid., at p. 11.

28. Locke, , supra n. 6, at p. 128, and p. 129.Google Scholar

29. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 5.Google Scholar

30. Ibid., at p. 71.

31. The Bible, supra n. 22, at p. 107.Google Scholar

32. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 8.Google Scholar

33. Ibid., at p. 50.

34. Locke, , supra n. 6, at p. 260.Google Scholar

35. Ibid., at p. 218.

36. Ibid.

37. Ibid., at p. 217. The practices of exposing children are called by Locke “the most shameful action, and most unnatural murder, human nature is capable of” (I, 56), ibid., at p. 217.

38. Ibid., at p. 219.

39. Ibid., at p. 242.

40. Ibid.

41. Ibid., at p. 243.

42. Ibid.

43. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 16.Google Scholar

44. Ibid.

45. Seliger, M., The Liberal Politics of John Locke p. 188 (New York 1969)Google Scholar

46. Locke, , supra n. 6, at p. 205.Google Scholar

47. Ibid., at p. 205.

48. Ibid.

49. Ibid.

50. Ibid., at p. 248.

51. Ibid., at p. 245.

52. Adler, and Gorman, , supra n. 2, at p. 39.Google Scholar

53. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 71.Google Scholar

54. Ibid., at p. 98.

55. Ibid., at p. 20.

56. Locke, , supra n. 6, at p. 247.Google Scholar

57. Ibid., at p. 196.

58. Ibid., at p. 203.

59. Ibid., at p. 196.

60. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 17.Google Scholar

61. Ibid.

62. Seliger, , supra n. 45, at p. 190.Google Scholar

63. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 17.Google Scholar

64. Ibid., at p. 18.

65. Locke, , supra n. 6, at p. 206.Google Scholar

66. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 17.Google Scholar

67. Ibid., at p. 27.

68. Ibid.

69. Ibid., at p. 17.

70. Ibid., at p. 18.

71. Ibid.

72. Seliger, , supra n. 45, at p. 205.Google Scholar

73. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 19.Google Scholar

74. Ibid., at p. 17, and p. 20.

75. Ibid., at p. 21.

76. Seliger, , supra n. 45, at p. 145.Google Scholar

77. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 21.Google Scholar

78. Ibid., at p. 19.

79. Ibid., at p. 71.

80. Locke, , supra n. 6, at p. 247.Google Scholar

81. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 79.Google Scholar

82. Ibid., at p. 34, and p. 107.

83. Ibid., at p. 4.

84. Ibid., at p. 68.

85. Ibid., at p. 107.

86. Ibid., at p. 15.

87. Ibid., at p. 68.

88. Filmer, R., Observations upon Aristotle's Politiques Touching Forms of Government p. 55 (1652).Google Scholar

89. Locke, , supra n. 13. at p. 15.Google Scholar

90. Ibid.

91. Ibid., at p. 4.

92. Ibid., at pp. 33–34.

93. Seliger, , supra n. 45, at p. 167.Google Scholar

94. Ibid.

95. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 32.Google Scholar

96. Ibid.

97. Ibid., at p. 36.

98. Ibid., at p. 32.

99. Ibid.

100. Ibid., at p. 36.

101. Ibid., at p. 15.

102. Ibid., at pp. 84–85, 95–96, and p. 98.

103. Ibid., at p. 67, and p. 76.

104. Ibid., at p. 12.

105. Ibid., at p. 16.

106. Ibid., at p. 47.

107. Ibid., at p. 5.

108. Locke, , supra n. 6, at pp. 210, 226–227.Google Scholar

109. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 48, and p. 76.Google Scholar

110. Locke, , supra n. 6, at p. 213.Google Scholar

111. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 4.Google Scholar

112. Kendall, W., “John Locke and the Doctrine of Majority-Rule” 26 Illions Studies in Social Science, pp. 68, 76 (No. 2, 1941).Google Scholar

113. Hooker, R., The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, (1594).Google Scholar

114. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 5.Google Scholar

115. Ibid.

116. Ibid.

117. Ibid., at p. 6.

118. Ibid.

119. Ibid., at p. 70.

120. Ibid., at p. 31.

121. Ibid.

122. Ibid., at p. 54.

123. Ibid., at p. 31.

124. Locke, , supra n. 6, at p. 177, and p. 227.Google Scholar

125. Seliger, , supra n. 45, at p. 214.Google Scholar

126. Locke, , supra n. 6, at p. 244.Google Scholar

127. Ibid., at p. 217.

128. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 32.Google Scholar

129. Ibid., at p. 37.

130. Ibid., at p. 38; Locke, , supra n. 6, at pp. 245, 354–355.Google Scholar

131. Locke, , supra n. 6, at p. 248.Google Scholar

132. Ibid.

133. Ibid., at p. 244.

134. Ibid.

135. Ibid., at p. 250.

136. Ibid., at p. 244 and p. 245.

137. Ibid., at p. 224.

138. Bible, , supra n. 22, at p. 107.Google Scholar

139. Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. 30.Google Scholar

140. Locke, J., Epistola de Tolerantia, 03 1689Google Scholar, and Second Letter for Toleration, 10 1690Google Scholar, in Fraser, , supra n. 1, at p. 297.Google Scholar

141. This idea is contained, inter alia, in his statements that all men are: born free, and naturally equal; Locke, , supra n. 6, at p. 213 and p. 227.Google Scholar

142. According to Locke, as indicated by Peardon, the primary duty of government is the protection of the inalienable rights of individuals, such as life, liberty, and property; Locke, , supra n. 13, at p. XIII.Google Scholar

143. Ibid., at p. 15.

144. Ibid., at p. 130.

145. Ibid., at p. 131.

146. Cranston, , supra n. 4, at p. 88Google Scholar; Commission to Study the Organization of Peace, The United Nations and Human Rights, p. 194 (New York 1968).Google Scholar

147. Council of Europe, Report of the Council of Europe to the International Conference on Human Rights, 1968 p. 84 (Strasbourg 1967)Google Scholar, UN. Note by the Secretary-General, International Year for Human Rights, Doc. A/CONF.32/L.9 p. 84 (1968).Google Scholar

148. UNJY, supra n. 5, at p. 180.

149. UNHR, supra n. 146, at p. 196.

150. UNJY, supra n. 5, at p. 173.

151. UNHR, supra n. 146, at p. 195

152. Ibid., at pp. 193–194.

153. Council of Europe, supra n. 147, at p. 85.Google Scholar

154. UNJY, supra n. 5, at p. 181.

155. UNHR, supra n. 146, at p. 194.

156. Council of Europe, supra n. 147, at p. 84.Google Scholar

157. UNJY, supra n. 5, at p. 181.

158. UNHR, supra n. 146, at p. 193.

159. UNJY, supra n. 5, at p. 182.

160. Ibid., at p. 185.

161. UNHR, supra n. 146, at p. 195.

162. United Nations Actions in the Field of Human Rights, Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UNP Sales No. E.74.XIV.2, ST/HR/2 p. 77 (UN New York 1974).

163. UNJY, supra n. 5, at p. 185.