RESPONSE PAPER I

JOHN LOCKE

The entire social contract argument of John Locke is based on consent. According to Locke,
consent is absolutely necessary for making a Social contract. But very few people actually expressly
consent to it. The method by which majority of the people express their consent is through passive
consent or the tacit consent. According to the tacit consent, a person born into a society does not
expressly give his consent but he passively consent to it. The problem with this argument is that there
is no other option for a person other than to give his consent since he is born and raised in that
society where he cannot survive without utilizing the benefit. But according to Locke he says that a
man who has tacitly consented has an obligation to follow the rules and regulation of that society.
The only option that Locke gives for a person who does not consent and disobey the law is to leave
the country or restrain himself from using the benefits of the governed society but Locke does not
clearly states the way by which a person can leave a state and walk away. Being born in a society
does not mean that you are obliged to give your consent. According to Locke one should also needs
to give his tacit consent. A person gives his tacit consent by accepting the benefits from the
governing body For example, a person is born in a well governed society and wants to go to some
place; he has no other option than to use the road. The road is being provided by the state. It is an
absolute necessity for him to utilize it. Consent comes when he has the ability to make choices where
as Locke says that when a person has expressly consented, and then he is perpetually obliged to
follow the laws. In this argument Locke is contradicting himself by saying that by simply living in a
place and enjoying the privileges of that society does not make him a member of the society or a
perpetual subject of the commonwealth. Hence we can conclude that according to Locke express
consent in most case is necessary to constitute as a valid membership in the society.

In the other argument that Locke makes he says that people have to obey the rules and
regulations created by the sovereign until and unless it violates the sanctity of life and property of the
people. In this particular argument Locke says that when the sanctity of life and property is being
violated and the majority thinks so, then they can revolt against the sovereign. According to Locke’s
theory there can rebellions frequently. This tendency to rebel against government may create
uncertainty and chaos against the commonwealth. Hence it will lead to anarchy. Hence sovereign
will have to look on more of the popularity measure so that people won’t rebel against him. He
would have to keep convincing the majority that he is not trying to take away their sanctity of life
and property. In this scenario there is always a fear in the mind of the sovereign. The government
cannot make decisions without thinking about the consequences just by taking the opinion of the
majority if the opinion is not beneficial for society Moreover rebellion is not always peaceful. It may
lead to a lot of blood-shead and violence which will cause large amount of destruction. This hence
will affect the idea of sanctity of life and property.

Also in certain circumstances the sovereign has to make decisions that may affect the sanctity
of life and property. For example, if the commonwealth raise taxes for some purpose of some public
good and futuristic goals which may be unpopular and hence people may rebel against the sovereign
.So sovereign will be forced to make decisions which are popular amongst the people and hence
these decisions might not always be good.

John Locke in giving the argument of the majoritarian rule does not talks about the opinion of
minority or a group of people who are not at equal footing as that of the majority people. There is no
scope for those people to present their opinion equally to that of majority. His theory fails to explain
about reservation for the minority people and concentrates only on the majority opinion. For the
development and giving equal opportunity to the minority the commonwealth has to take some
measures and does not only look to the majority opinion. This was not clearly mention by Locke in
his Social Contract theory.

ADITI RANA
BA0180002
B.A. LL.B (Hons)