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Therefore, the people always maintain the (natural) right to overthrow any state authority that fails to act in the best interest of the people or that excuses itself from respecting the natural rights of the populace (Taylor, 1999).
The fundamental principles underlying Locke's theory of social contract and civil government are that (1) the primary purpose of state legislative authority is to ensure the protection of the natural rights of everyone in society and (2) the failure of holders of state judicial, legislative, and executive authority to uphold the obligations granted to them under social contracts is an outright breach of those contracts, justifying their recession, and the overthrow of unjust state authority, such as witnessed in England in 1688 (Taylor, 1999).
Parallels to Contemporary American Justice:
The most obvious parallels between Locke's theory of social contract and contemporary concepts of American justice is evidenced by Locke's articulation of natural rights as encompassing the rights against deprivation of life, health, liberty, or possessions. Generally, political historians regard this as the original basis of fundamental civil rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness detailed by the Founding fathers who drafted and ratified the U.S. Constitution after the successful American Revolution against British authority in the Colonies a century after Locke's Treatise on Civil Government (Freidman, 2005).
Another obvious parallel between Locke's prescient writings...
government and concepts of social justice is the trifurcation of government authority into separate legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government, roughly according to the fundamental purposes of state authority described by Locke. Finally, the U.S. Constitution also encompasses provisions that are consistent with Locke's view of the limitations of state authority and provides for the removal of government representatives at every level for failure to uphold their obligations as specified in the social contracts of their appointment. In principle, the general premise of modern American principles of justice is that citizens have the right to live free from unjustified intrusions and deprivations, both at the hands of other citizens and by virtue of unwarranted exercise of state authority. Indeed, balancing individual rights and those of collective society continues to be one of the most challenging aspects of modern social justice recognized by Locke more than a century before those concepts were to shape modern American justice.
References
Friedman, L.M. (2005). A History of American Law 3rd Edition. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Kluger, J. (2007). What Makes Us Moral? Time Magazine; Vol. 170 No. 23, Dec. 3/07 (pp. 54-60)
Schmalleger, F. (2008) Criminal Justice Today: An Introductory Text for the 21st Century. New Jersey: Prentice Hall
Taylor, R. (1999). Freedom, Anarchy, and the Law: An Introduction to Political Philosophy. Buffalo: Prometheus.
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