And of these, first of all
comes to be considered the supreme right of the commonwealth, or the
right of the supreme authorities.
2. From Chap. II. Sec. 15, it is clear that the right of the supreme
authorities is nothing else than simple natural right, limited, indeed,
by the power, not of every individual, but of the multitude, which is
guided, as it were, by one mind -- that is, as each individual in the
state of nature, so the body and mind of a dominion have as much right
as they have power. And thus each single citizen or subject has the less
right, the more the commonwealth exceeds him in power (Chap. II. Sec.
16), and each citizen consequently does and has nothing, but what he may
by the general decree of the commonwealth defend.
3. If the commonwealth grant to any man the right, and therewith the
authority (for else it is but a gift of words, Chap. II. Sec. 12), to
live after his own mind, by that very act it abandons its own right, and
transfers the same to him, to whom it has given such authority. But if
it has given this authority to two or more, I mean authority to live
each after his own mind, by that very act it has divided the dominion,
and if, lastly, it has given this same authority to every citizen, it
has thereby destroyed itself, and there remains no more a commonwealth,
but everything returns to the state of nature; all of which is very
manifest from what goes before. And thus it follows, that it can by no
means be conceived, that every citizen should by the ordinance of the
commonwealth live after his own mind, and accordingly this natural right
of being one's own judge ceases in the civil state.
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