Locke on the Limits on Private Property Accumulation by Natural Law: Second Treatise Revisited

In the Second Treatise of Government, Locke asserts that natural law sets limits on private property accumulation, including that men must labour, obtain others’ consent, leave “enough and as good” for others, and must not let the resource spoil when accumulating private property. However, interpreters have debated on the role and validity of natural law after people enter political society. This thesis maintains that these limits by natural law do not dissolve after the invention of money and people’s entrance into political society from the state of nature. As a matter of fact, natural law persists in binding people in political society, and the government is obligated to make laws in accordance with natural law and ensure the limits continue to be executed. This thesis further argues that in the Second Treatise, the “property” the government is to preserve refers to “Property” in the broader sense, that is, Life, Liberty and Possessions; among others, Liberty as non-domination is the core, as it is this Liberty that lays the foundation of preserving life and possessions. By examining and criticising the interpretations made by James Tully, Jeremy Waldron and A. John Simmons, especially how they apprehend the Labour Limit, Consent Limit and Sufficiency Limit, i.e. the three limits on private property accumulation set by natural law, the thesis demonstrates and distinguishes an alternative interpretation: the end of government is to preserve everyone’s Liberty as non-domination. In view that the property government is to preserve refers not to the possessions acquired in the state of nature, but to Liberty as non-domination, government’s (non-arbitrary) interference in possessions through law can be justified, and accordingly, government’s redistribution of private property does not contradict its end to “preserve property”.