Philosophy of Natural Rights

In these books, Locke enunciated a philosophy of natural rights in which

individuals rights to private property derive from their effort. We create our property
through our own labor, such as a farmer clearing and irrigating fields. It is our work or
perhaps the work of forefathers that has created this property; therefore, it is our right to
own it. Such property rights should be secure and protected by the state. (Gregory &
Stuart, 2014)
Locke proposed a government based on a social contract between the
government and those people governed. According to Gregory and Stuart (2014),
Lockes social contract states that the people contract together consensually to
establish a limited government. Only such a government is legitimate.
The power of the government should be limited and if the government violates
the social contract with the people then the people are not obliged to obey them
anymore. The people cannot give the government the power to do anything that is
unlawful for them to do like taking away and destroying the property of the people or to
make them slaves power; the legislators put themselves in a state of war with the
people of the state and therefore not obligated to follow the social contract anymore.
If the government goes beyond the power given to it by the people, then the
people have the right to dissolve the government and return to its original liberty.
When the legislators violate the rules of society by corruption, fear, ambition and etc.
then there is a breach of trust between them and the people and therefore must forfeit
the power that the people have given them and the people are now free to return to their
original liberty.
To summarize, Lockes social contract theory contradicts Hobbes, because he
favors a government for the people and by the people. The governments power is
limited by what the people have given it. The government also cannot take away natural
rights, like the rights to property. And if it exceeds the boundaries of the social contract,
then the government becomes null and void, and the people have no obligation to obey
it anymore.
References
Bibliography
Gregory, P., & Stuart, R. (2014). The Global Economy and Its Economic Systems. USA.