Chapter: CHAPTER. II. OF THE STATE OF NATURE.


Sect. 4. TO understand political power right, and derive it from its
original, we must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and
that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose
of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds
of the law of nature, without asking leave, or depending upon the will
of any other man.

A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is
reciprocal, no one having more than another; there being nothing more
evident, than that creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously
born to all the same advantages of nature, and the use of the same
faculties, should also be equal one amongst another without
subordination or subjection, unless the lord and master of them all
should, by any manifest declaration of his will, set one above another,
and confer on him, by an evident and clear appointment, an undoubted
right to dominion and sovereignty.

Sect. 5. This equality of men by nature, the judicious Hooker looks upon
as so evident in itself, and beyond all question, that he makes it the
foundation of that obligation to mutual love amongst men, on which he
builds the duties they owe one another, and from whence he derives the
great maxims of justice and charity. His words are,

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     The like natural inducement hath brought men to know that it is no
     less their duty, to love others than themselves; for seeing those
     things which are equal, must needs all have one measure; if I
     cannot but wish to receive good, even as much at every man's hands,
     as any man can wish unto his own soul, how should I look to have
     any part of my desire herein satisfied, unless myself be careful to
     satisfy the like desire, which is undoubtedly in other men, being
     of one and the same nature? To have any thing offered them
     repugnant to this desire, must needs in all respects grieve them as
     much as me; so that if I do harm, I must look to suffer, there
     being no reason that others should shew greater measure of love to
     me, than they have by me shewed unto them: my desire therefore to
     be loved of my equals in nature as much as possible may be,
     imposeth upon me a natural duty of bearing to them-ward fully the
     like affection; from which relation of equality between ourselves
     and them that are as ourselves, what several rules and canons
     natural reason hath drawn, for direction of life, no man is
     ignorant, Eccl. Pol. Lib. 1.


#/

Sect. 6. But though this be a state of liberty, yet it is not a state of
licence: though man in that state have an uncontroulable liberty to
dispose of his person or possessions, yet he has not liberty to destroy
himself, or so much as any creature in his possession, but where some
nobler use than its bare preservation calls for it. The state of nature
has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason,
which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that
being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his
life, health, liberty, or possessions: for men being all the workmanship
of one omnipotent, and infinitely wise maker; all the servants of one
sovereign master, sent into the world by his order, and about his
business; they are his property, whose workmanship they are, made to
last during his, not one another's pleasure: and being furnished with
like faculties, sharing all in one community of nature, there cannot be
supposed any such subordination among us, that may authorize us to
destroy one another, as if we were made for one another's uses, as the
inferior ranks of creatures are for our's. Every one, as he is bound to
preserve himself, and not to quit his station wilfully, so by the like
reason, when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as
much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it
be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what
tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or
goods of another.

Sect. 7. And that all men may be restrained from invading others rights,
and from doing hurt to one another, and the law of nature be observed,
which willeth the peace and preservation of all mankind, the execution
of the law of nature is, in that state, put into every man's hands,
whereby every one has a right to punish the transgressors of that law to
such a degree, as may hinder its violation: for the law of nature would,
as all other laws that concern men in this world be in vain, if there
were no body that in the state of nature had a power to execute that
law, and thereby preserve the innocent and restrain offenders. And if
any one in the state of nature may punish another for any evil he has
done, every one may do so: for in that state of perfect equality, where
naturally there is no superiority or jurisdiction of one over another,
what any may do in prosecution of that law, every one must needs have a
right to do.

Sect. 8. And thus, in the state of nature, one man comes by a power over
another; but yet no absolute or arbitrary power, to use a criminal, when
he has got him in his hands, according to the passionate heats, or
boundless extravagancy of his own will; but only to retribute to him, so
far as calm reason and conscience dictate, what is proportionate to his
transgression, which is so much as may serve for reparation and
restraint: for these two are the only reasons, why one man may lawfully
do harm to another, which is that we call punishment. In transgressing
the law of nature, the offender declares himself to live by another rule
than that of reason and common equity, which is that measure God has set
to the actions of men, for their mutual security; and so he becomes
dangerous to mankind, the tye, which is to secure them from injury and
violence, being slighted and broken by him. Which being a trespass
against the whole species, and the peace and safety of it, provided for
by the law of nature, every man upon this score, by the right he hath to
preserve mankind in general, may restrain, or where it is necessary,
destroy things noxious to them, and so may bring such evil on any one,
who hath transgressed that law, as may make him repent the doing of it,
and thereby deter him, and by his example others, from doing the like
mischief. And in the case, and upon this ground, EVERY MAN HATH A RIGHT
TO PUNISH THE OFFENDER, AND BE EXECUTIONER OF THE LAW OF NATURE.

Sect. 9. I doubt not but this will seem a very strange doctrine to some
men: but before they condemn it, I desire them to resolve me, by what
right any prince or state can put to death, or punish an alien, for any
crime he commits in their country. It is certain their laws, by virtue
of any sanction they receive from the promulgated will of the
legislative, reach not a stranger: they speak not to him, nor, if they
did, is he bound to hearken to them. The legislative authority, by which
they are in force over the subjects of that commonwealth, hath no power
over him. Those who have the supreme power of making laws in England,
France or Holland, are to an Indian, but like the rest of the world, men
without authority: and therefore, if by the law of nature every man hath
not a power to punish offences against it, as he soberly judges the case
to require, I see not how the magistrates of any community can punish an
alien of another country; since, in reference to him, they can have no
more power than what every man naturally may have over another.

Sect, 10. Besides the crime which consists in violating the law, and
varying from the right rule of reason, whereby a man so far becomes
degenerate, and declares himself to quit the principles of human nature,
and to be a noxious creature, there is commonly injury done to some
person or other, and some other man receives damage by his
transgression: in which case he who hath received any damage, has,
besides the right of punishment common to him with other men, a
particular right to seek reparation from him that has done it: and any
other person, who finds it just, may also join with him that is injured,
and assist him in recovering from the offender so much as may make
satisfaction for the harm he has suffered.

Sect. 11. From these two distinct rights, the one of punishing the crime
for restraint, and preventing the like offence, which right of punishing
is in every body; the other of taking reparation, which belongs only to
the injured party, comes it to pass that the magistrate, who by being
magistrate hath the common right of punishing put into his hands, can
often, where the public good demands not the execution of the law, remit
the punishment of criminal offences by his own authority, but yet cannot
remit the satisfaction due to any private man for the damage he has
received. That, he who has suffered the damage has a right to demand in
his own name, and he alone can remit: the damnified person has this
power of appropriating to himself the goods or service of the offender,
by right of self-preservation, as every man has a power to punish the
crime, to prevent its being committed again, by the right he has of
preserving all mankind, and doing all reasonable things he can in order
to that end: and thus it is, that every man, in the state of nature, has
a power to kill a murderer, both to deter others from doing the like
injury, which no reparation can compensate, by the example of the
punishment that attends it from every body, and also to secure men from
the attempts of a criminal, who having renounced reason, the common rule
and measure God hath given to mankind, hath, by the unjust violence and
slaughter he hath committed upon one, declared war against all mankind,
and therefore may be destroyed as a lion or a tyger, one of those wild
savage beasts, with whom men can have no society nor security: and upon
this is grounded that great law of nature, Whoso sheddeth man's blood,
by man shall his blood be shed. And Cain was so fully convinced, that
every one had a right to destroy such a criminal, that after the murder
of his brother, he cries out, Every one that findeth me, shall slay me;
so plain was it writ in the hearts of all mankind.

Sect. 12. By the same reason may a man in the state of nature punish the
lesser breaches of that law. It will perhaps be demanded, with death? I
answer, each transgression may be punished to that degree, and with so
much severity, as will suffice to make it an ill bargain to the
offender, give him cause to repent, and terrify others from doing the
like. Every offence, that can be committed in the state of nature, may
in the state of nature be also punished equally, and as far forth as it
may, in a commonwealth: for though it would be besides my present
purpose, to enter here into the particulars of the law of nature, or its
measures of punishment; yet, it is certain there is such a law, and that
too, as intelligible and plain to a rational creature, and a studier of
that law, as the positive laws of commonwealths; nay, possibly plainer;
as much as reason is easier to be understood, than the fancies and
intricate contrivances of men, following contrary and hidden interests
put into words; for so truly are a great part of the municipal laws of
countries, which are only so far right, as they are founded on the law
of nature, by which they are to be regulated and interpreted.

Sect. 13. To this strange doctrine, viz. That in the state of nature
every one has the executive power of the law of nature, I doubt not but
it will be objected, that it is unreasonable for men to be judges in
their own cases, that self-love will make men partial to themselves and
their friends: and on the other side, that ill nature, passion and
revenge will carry them too far in punishing others; and hence nothing
but confusion and disorder will follow, and that therefore God hath
certainly appointed government to restrain the partiality and violence
of men. I easily grant, that civil government is the proper remedy for
the inconveniencies of the state of nature, which must certainly be
great, where men may be judges in their own case, since it is easy to be
imagined, that he who was so unjust as to do his brother an injury, will
scarce be so just as to condemn himself for it: but I shall desire those
who make this objection, to remember, that absolute monarchs are but
men; and if government is to be the remedy of those evils, which
necessarily follow from men's being judges in their own cases, and the
state of nature is therefore not to be endured, I desire to know what
kind of government that is, and how much better it is than the state
of nature, where one man, commanding a multitude, has the liberty to be
judge in his own case, and may do to all his subjects whatever he
pleases, without the least liberty to any one to question or controul
those who execute his pleasure? and in whatsoever he doth, whether led
by reason, mistake or passion, must be submitted to? much better it is
in the state of nature, wherein men are not bound to submit to the
unjust will of another: and if he that judges, judges amiss in his own,
or any other case, he is answerable for it to the rest of mankind.

Sect. 14. It is often asked as a mighty objection, where are, or ever
were there any men in such a state of nature? To which it may suffice as
an answer at present, that since all princes and rulers of independent
governments all through the world, are in a state of nature, it is plain
the world never was, nor ever will be, without numbers of men in that
state. I have named all governors of independent communities, whether
they are, or are not, in league with others: for it is not every compact
that puts an end to the state of nature between men, but only this one
of agreeing together mutually to enter into one community, and make one
body politic; other promises, and compacts, men may make one with
another, and yet still be in the state of nature. The promises and
bargains for truck, &c. between the two men in the desert island,
mentioned by Garcilasso de la Vega, in his history of Peru; or between a
Swiss and an Indian, in the woods of America, are binding to them,
though they are perfectly in a state of nature, in reference to one
another: for truth and keeping of faith belongs to men, as men, and not
as members of society.

Sect. 15. To those that say, there were never any men in the state of
nature, I will not only oppose the authority of the judicious Hooker,
Eccl. Pol. lib. i. sect. 10, where he says,

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     The laws which have been hitherto mentioned, i.e. the laws of
     nature, do bind men absolutely, even as they are men, although they
     have never any settled fellowship, never any solemn agreement
     amongst themselves what to do, or not to do: but forasmuch as we
     are not by ourselves sufficient to furnish ourselves with competent
     store of things, needful for such a life as our nature doth desire,
     a life fit for the dignity of man; therefore to supply those
     defects and imperfections which are in us, as living single and
     solely by ourselves, we are naturally induced to seek communion and
     fellowship with others: this was the cause of men's uniting
     themselves at first in politic societies.


#/

But I moreover affirm, that all men are naturally in that state, and
remain so, till by their own consents they make themselves members of
some politic society; and I doubt not in the sequel of this discourse,
to make it very clear.

 Locke begins his second chapter with the explanation that all men exist in a state of perfect freedom and equality. Their actions and choices are unfettered and cannot be limited by other men. All men are born in the exact same state, with no one individual having privileges or advantages over another. Only God is able to bestow some advantage in power upon one man over another. Locke quotes the Anglican theologian Richard Hooker's Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie in his assertion that equality is the basis of a civil society; Hooker writes that if men want their own needs satisfied they must satisfy those of other men, that if they desire affection they must give affection to others, and that natural reason supports these assertions. Reason is indeed the law of nature, for in a state of liberty where there are no limitations on a man's ability to dispose of his person or property, a man must understand that he should respect all other men's lives, health, liberty, and possessions. This is because God created all men equally, with no state of inferiority. All men should seek to preserve the rest of mankind unless they have committed an offense against the life, health, liberty, or possessions of another. In a state of nature, there is no government or superior force to carry out the laws and therefore every man may implement punishment. This punishment, however, cannot be arbitrary or out of proportion with the crime that was committed. The justification for punishment is that the transgressor has chosen to break the law of nature, which is a compact between himself and God. He no longer sees fit to live by the laws of reason that govern men in the state of nature and is thus dangerous to the rest of mankind; it is only reasonable that men may punish an individual who sows dissension and chaos in order to make an example of him to others. Locke states that he understands that this may seem odd or controversial to some, and continues his argument by discussing the right of a sovereign to execute an alien, or noncitizen, for a crime. The legislature that made the law, which the alien broke, has no power over the alien and therefore the sovereign cannot execute him. If a sovereign wants this power, then he should understand why in a state of nature all men should be able to discipline a transgressor of the law. Locke also addresses the issue of reparations when a crime is committed, believing that if a man has been wronged it is his right to seek reparations in some form for the harm he has suffered. In a government where a magistrate rules, it is understood that this magistrate has the power to punish the offender and proclaim what the injured party should receive in terms of reparations. In actuality, only the injured party has the right to set the terms for reparations. In regards to murder, in a state of nature where no one magistrate has the power, every man has the power to kill a murderer because there are no reparations possible in this case. Just as a man would kill a wild beast that shed the blood of a human, any man may kill a murderer to prevent further bloodshed and set an example for others. Locke uses the example of Cain, the slayer of his brother Abel, who said that all men had the right to kill him because he shed the blood of a fellow man. As for minor crimes, they may also be punished by anyone in the commonwealth to deter future offenses. The law of nature certainly exists, and its foundation of reason is much easier to understand than those oftentimes confusing and self-interested laws of men. Locke is clear that he understands in a state of nature if men are called upon to be a judge of them or their friends they may be unable to be impartial or disinterested. The remedy for this is a civil government with the power to adjudicate, but there can be problems with this state of affairs as well. Absolute monarchs are merely men and are privy to the same sort of self-interest ; passion and whim may triumph over reason and no one can criticize their decisions. A state of nature is preferable to an absolute monarchy because of the premium placed upon liberty. Locke concludes his second chapter by answering the question of whether or not there are or have been men who exist in a state of nature. He affirms that compacts can be made that do not destroy the state of nature, such as one between an Indian and a Swiss man in the wilderness who pledge to keep faith but are not co-members of a society. All men exist in this state until they consent to be governed.

