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John Locke Tacit Consent

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And so, what would happen if the people violated the social contract was the question that brought the creation of a civil society. The people also consented, unanimously, the creation of civil society and therefore leaving the state of nature also consented to allow his property to be governed by the government of his choice, and those who did not consent where left in the state of nature against the rest of society. Under the social contract, Locke explains that we must obey government that we our born under, bringing us to the concept of express consent and tacit consent. Express consent, consent given in writing or by voicing it, is binding but can never be taken away. Tacit consent is consent given silently and based more on one’s actions …show more content…

The legislature, which is in existence only periodically and contains judicial functions, is in charge of having the consent of the people and forming those consent into laws, and then interpreting the laws accordingly. However, there are certain constraints to the legislature branch due to it being the most powerful. Some of these constraints are the legislature branch not having arbitrary power meaning that the end goal is for the good of society, they cannot take property or tax property without consent, and they cannot transfer law making power to another institutions but only from the legislative power. Locke also discusses that if the legislature power is in the hands of one person, or a group of people, constantly, and their nature does not change, one can assume that the legislature is tyrannical, this leads for the exercise of power as an advantage for the tyrant, and not the …show more content…

The executive branch is in perpetual existence because laws must be enforced all the time, and so the executive must be active all the time. The federative focuses on law making regarding foreign peace, treaties, appointing ambassadors among other things. These two branches are connected even when they carry different duties. And so, even with separation of powers, limited government, and government with consent, tyranny is possible in these branches of government. Locke’s believes that anyone can be tyrant, and his definition of tyranny is the exercise of power without the right to do so and such exercise will be in the advantage of the tyrant and not the people as explained before under the executive branch. Locke does differentiate between tyranny and legitimate power, and individuals believing that there is tyranny under these branches when a law that they don’t agree with, is

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