Locke's Natural Rights Theory: Life, Liberty, and Property

John Locke’s theory of natural rights, developed in the Two Treatises of Government (1689), is one of the foundational texts of modern political philosophy. The theory provides a systematic account of the natural rights of individuals, of the moral foundation of these rights, of the proper scope of government, and of the conditions under which resistance to tyranny is justified. While Locke’s Social Contract examines the contractual structure of Locke’s political theory in detail, this article focuses on the natural rights themselves: their content, their foundation, their universality, and their lasting influence on modern thought.

The Content of the Rights

The natural rights, for Locke, are the rights that all human beings possess by virtue of their nature as human beings. These rights include, most importantly, the rights to life, liberty, and property. The rights are not granted by kings or priests; they inhere in every individual, and they cannot legitimately be violated by any government.

The right to life is the right not to be killed or harmed unjustly. The right to liberty is the right to be free from arbitrary restriction, to act according to one’s own judgment within the bounds of the law of nature, and to be subject only to laws that have been properly enacted. The right to property is the right to acquire and to possess the products of one’s own labor, and to be free from arbitrary deprivation of these products.

Locke was not the first to develop a theory of natural rights — earlier writers including Hugo Grotius, Samuel Pufendorf, and the Spanish scholastics had developed various versions of the doctrine — but his version was the most influential in the English-speaking world. The substitution of “property” for the broader category of “interests” in the traditional list of natural rights was Locke’s own contribution, and it was an important source of the modern theory of property rights.

The Foundation of the Rights

The natural rights, for Locke, are grounded in the natural law, which is a principle of reason accessible to all human beings. The natural law teaches that human beings are equal and independent, and that no one should harm another in his life, liberty, or property. The natural law is binding on all human beings, regardless of their particular circumstances or convictions, and it is the proper basis of the natural rights.

Locke also grounded the natural rights, although with somewhat less emphasis, in the will of God. God has created human beings and has given them the natural rights that they possess, and the violation of these rights is a violation of the divine will. The religious foundation of the natural rights was important to Locke, but it did not prevent him from developing a theory that was largely secular in its operation. The natural law could be known by reason alone, and the natural rights could be defended on rational grounds even by those who did not accept the religious premises. The secular character of the theory was one of the reasons for its wide influence in the eighteenth century.

The Universality of the Rights

The natural rights are universal, in that they apply to all human beings regardless of their nationality, religion, or social position. The universality of the rights was an important feature of the Lockean theory, and it was a direct contradiction of the traditional view, which held that the rights and obligations of human beings varied according to their social position.

The natural rights are also inalienable, in that they cannot legitimately be surrendered or transferred to another. Even when an individual enters into political society, he does not give up his natural rights; he continues to possess them, and the government that violates them is acting illegitimately. The inalienability of the natural rights was an important source of the modern theory of human rights, and it is a basic principle of contemporary international human rights law.

The Scope of the Rights

The natural rights are not absolute, in Locke’s view. The rights of each individual are limited by the equal rights of other individuals, and the proper exercise of the rights requires the recognition of this limitation. The right to liberty, for example, does not include the right to harm another or to violate the equal rights of another to the protection of their life, liberty, and property. The natural rights, in this sense, are not a license to do whatever one wants, but a framework for the proper exercise of human freedom.

The natural rights are also limited by the proper functions of government. The government that has been established by the consent of the governed for the protection of the natural rights has the legitimate authority to regulate the exercise of the rights, in order to prevent harm to others and to promote the common good. The government that exceeds this authority, and that uses its powers to violate the natural rights, is acting tyrannically and may be resisted.

The Legacy

Locke’s theory of natural rights has had a profound influence on the development of modern political thought. The American Declaration of Independence, with its appeal to the natural rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, is a direct descendant of Locke’s theory. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is another important descendant. The contemporary international human rights regime, as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the various other international covenants and conventions, is also, a descendant of Locke’s pioneering work.

Further Reading

• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (plato.stanford.edu), relevant entry
• The Cambridge Companion to [Thinker] (Cambridge University Press)
• Isaiah Berlin, Four Essays on Liberty (1969)