 Because Grotius conceives of natural rights (including our rights as common owners in things) as potentially transferable, he is able to explain and defend different kinds of government systems—democracies, oligarchies, even absolute monarchies. Since, for Grotius, the natural rights that a person has over his or her own person are alienable, he is able to argue that the source of the state’s authority stems from the transferability of this right to a sovereign authority through consent, including conventions developed over a long period of time, which represents an implicit exchange for a peaceful and stable society. He also argues that civil authority can also be acquired through conquest (Grotius RWP: II.3.viii), although this aspect of his theory is not emphasized by contemporary scholars.