Legislative power is inherently limited to the common good and standing law
Evidence
But though men, when they enter into society, give up the equality, liberty, and executive power they had in the state of nature, into the hands of the society, to be so far disposed of by the legislative, as the good of the society shall require; yet it being only with an intention in every one the better to preserve himself, his liberty and property; (for no rational creature can be supposed to change his condition with an intention to be worse) the power of the society, or legislative constituted by them, can never be supposed to extend farther, than the common good; but is obliged to secure every one’s property, by providing against those three defects above mentioned, that made the state of nature so unsafe and uneasy. And so whoever has the legislative or supreme power of any commonwealth, is bound to govern by established standing laws, promulgated and known to the people, and not by extemporary decrees; by indifferent and upright judges, who are to decide controversies by those laws; and to employ the force of the community at home, only in the execution of such laws, or abroad to prevent or redress foreign injuries, and secure the community from inroads and invasion. And all this to be directed to no other end, but the peace, safety, and public good of the people. — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 158
Categorization
- DEFINE: Locke’s foundational statement of limited government: the legislature may only govern by promulgated standing laws, indifferent judges, and may never exceed the common good — the philosophical seed of constitutional constraints reviewed in the course.
- XREF: Precisely the theory of constrained legislative power that American courts apply in due-process and bill-of-attainder doctrine; also the consent-based anti-tyranny logic behind the Declaration’s indictment of the king ruling by ‘extemporary decrees.’ — connects to: Political power is lawmaking backed by force and limited to the public good — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 7; Unprecedented power cannot be constrained by law made before it exists — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1637; Sovereign power makes principles rather than obeying them (+4 more)
Related
Broader Connections
- Sovereign power makes principles rather than obeying them
#contradicts(0.80) - Unprecedented power cannot be constrained by law made before it exists
#qualifies(0.78) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1637