Example research essay topic: John Stand On The Fifth Amendment - 1,696 words

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John Locke's tand On The Fifth Amendment The questions of property are closely connected with the essence of political power. Power is formed to defend and protect the right of property as a basic right of a citizen. People delegate a part of their natural rights to their Sovereign (Government) who observes their rights by means of Constitution, laws and other regulations. Locke admits that Political power, then, I take to be a right of making laws, with penalties of death, and consequently all less penalties for the regulating and preserving of property, and of employing the force of the community in the execution of such laws, and in the defence of the commonwealth from foreign injury, and all this only for the public good. 1 So, the right of property is unbreakable but sometimes Sovereign requires some additional resources to defend the delegated natural rights of citizen (ex. a right to live) in case of emergency, for example during military conflicts.

In this case the transfer of the property from a citizen to a Sovereign may be the only way to overcome enemy and eliminate the threat to live, i. e. a threat to the natural right of the citizen. There is no any violation of the natural rights because a human being may exist within the society only and the defeat of the society may lead and will definitely lead to the collapse of an individual.

It will definitely be fairly if the right for property is observed by substituting the taken property by the compensation as it is stated in the Fifth Amendment. John Locke defines the intentions of aggressor in the state of war He that in the state of Nature would take away the freedom that belongs to any one in that state must necessarily be supposed to have a design to take away everything else, that freedom being the foundation of all the rest; as he that in the state of society would take away the freedom belonging to those of that society or commonwealth must be supposed to design to take away from them everything else, and so be looked on as in a state of war. 2 The aggressor is supposed to take everything including the life which can not be covered by the reparations. In this case the State is obliged to provide the defense of the citizen from the aggressor and the transferring the right of property which is compensated for the sake of defending the life which can not be covered with the reparations is quite reasonable from the point of view of prevalence of the Natural Law. Locke considers the authority of the Government to handle the jurisdiction is necessary due to some reasons.

First of all, 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, 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 3. And he proceeds I easily grant that civil government is the proper remedy for the inconveniences 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. 4 That means that government is handling the jurisdiction and as soon as its mission is to observe the rights of the citizens, government is acting for the sake of the citizens. When government takes the property of an individual it is because government is given by God to adapt the Law of Nature to the law of human being within the Nature which in its essence does not contradict to the Law of Nature. For better understanding the right of private property and the right of government to take it in case of emergency with the following compensation it is worth understanding the origin of the private property. Locke gives the comprehensive explanation of the origin of the property. Originally the property was given in the form of nature to the entire mankind.

The natural resources, forests, rivers etc belonged to all because they were given by God to the human being for survival. The essence of the property is the labor share in it. It is necessary to add labor to get ore, it is necessary to get labor to grow and harvest an apple, it is necessary to add labor to feed and grow cattle. The measure which originally defined the property was the cost of added labor.

Thus labour, in the beginning, gave a right of property, wherever any one was pleased to employ it, upon what was common, which remained a long while, the far greater part, and is yet more than mankind makes use of Men at first, for the most part, contented themselves with what unassisted Nature offered to their necessities. 5 But a person can not posses more goods than he is able to consume. He can not store a lot of fruit because it will spoil though the fruit is his property because he added his own labor, he can not store meat more than he consumes due to the same reason. Originally ones share was that he could consume. Whatever is beyond this is more than his share, and belongs to others.

Nothing was made by God for man to spoil or destroy. 6 Labor is the factor which defines the usefulness of the goods. I think it will be but a very modest computation to say, that of the products of the earth useful to the life of man, nine-tenths are the effects of labour. 7 Then people invented the equivalent of goods which did not spoil and became the unified measure of labor, i. e. property. This equivalent was money. To come back to the Fifth Amendment when Government gives an individual a compensation for his private property, exchanges it to its equivalent, the property rights of the individual are not violated.

On the other hand an individual most likely is not able to evaluate the necessity of transferring his property to the Sovereign for the sake of collective and his own security, the observation of which is the Government mission. According to Locke the Government is entitled to preserve the property of the entire society, And thus the commonwealth comes by a power to set down what punishment shall belong to the several transgressions they think worthy of it, committed amongst the members of that society (which is the power of making laws), as well as it has the power to punish any injury done unto any of its members by any one that is not of it (which is the power of war and peace); and all this for the preservation of the property of all the members of that society, as far as is possible. 8 The reason according to which the man enters into agreement with the Government is to preserve his own property, that means if Government takes the man property in case of emergency and compensates it, the Government fulfills its duty on preserving the citizens property by attracting the resources it is short of, The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property; and the end while they choose and authorize a legislative is that there may be laws made, and rules set, as guards and fences to the properties of all the society, to limit the power and moderate the dominion of every part and member of the society. For since it can never be supposed to be the will of the society that the legislative should have a power to destroy that which every one designs to secure by entering into society 9 If Government takes a part of the property of an individual and compensates it that means Government takes urgent measures by securing the rest of the property, say in case of war or tries to observe other natural rights of citizens. Locke explores the tyranny as a form of power. He writes that the power is objected to defend the peoples property as one of its mission. When the power is concerned in its own prosperity only and does not care of citizens, it is tyranny.

When the governor, however entitled, makes not the law, but his will, the rule, and his commands and actions are not directed to the preservation of the properties of his people, but the satisfaction of his own ambition, revenge, covetousness, or any other irregular passion. 10 Tyranny contradicts to the definition of Sovereign, because it exercises the natural rights transferred to it for its own benefits but not for the benefits of the citizens who transferred the natural rights. Tyranny uses the rights transferred to it not for defending the citizens property but for gaining some personal goals. It seems as the tyranny is illegal from the point of view of the Natural Law. The Fifth Amendment permitting the government to take the persons property with its compensation which says. nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation. 11 completely corresponds to the theory of Government by John Locke. Citation John Locke, Chapter I - Of Political Power Ibid, Chapter III - Of the State of War.

Ibid, Chapter II - Of the State of Nature. Ibid Ibid, Chapter V - Of Property Ibid Ibid Ibid, Chapter VII - Of Political or Civil Society Ibid, Chapter XIX - Of the Dissolution of Government Ibid, Chapter XVIII - Of Tyranny Fifth Amendment [U. S. Constitution] Bibliography John Locke - Second Treatise on Government, available at web retrieved 15. 03. 2006 Fifth Amendment [U. S. Constitution], available at web retrieved 15. 03. 2006

Research essay sample on John Stand On The Fifth Amendment