In the state, no one and nothing can be outside the subordination of laws and legality. Locke anticipated the idea of a state governed by the rule of law, since, in his opinion, it is the law that is the main tool for preserving and expanding individual freedom. "Where there are no laws, there is no freedom."
"For Locke, it is important that any form of state grows out of a social contract – a voluntary agreement of people, so that it protects their natural rights and freedoms. Locke developed the doctrine of the transition from natural law to the civil state of society and the corresponding forms of government. He formulated as the main goal of the state – the preservation of freedom of ownership, defended the principle of separation of powers" (Matveev A.A. Political views of Modern times. 1999, Moscow, Infra-M, p. 89).
The main doctrines of political thought during the period of bourgeois revolutions are as follows:
1) the theory of national sovereignty arose and developed in the XVII – XIX centuries on the basis of the theory of the origin of the social contract: according to the theory of the social contract, the people are the source of state power and its bearer, the sovereign;
2) the theory of the rule of law:
a) the doctrine of the natural rights of the individual, which do not depend on state recognition;
b) the need to guarantee the rights of the individual;
c) the relationship of the state and its organs with laws, law, standingcontrol over the state;
d) connection with the doctrine of separation of powers.
3) the theory of separation of powers:
a) three powers – legislative, executive, judicial – should be exercised by different specific authorities;
b) all spheres of state activity only within the framework of the law;
c) general democratic principles: the law is adopted only by the representative power, the executive power cannot change the laws; the court is independent.
The theory of "natural law"
The concept originated in Ancient Greece, and the very expression ("jus naturale") was coined by Roman lawyers. In Antiquity, natural law was understood as justice existing by nature. It was opposed to real (positive) law as an absolute model. Natural law was conceived as a single, common for all people (sometimes for animals), its source is nature and deity, while positive law is created by people, and each nation has its own. From the Roman jurists, the concept of natural law was assimilated by medieval thought, which began to consider God as its only source, which established it for a happy life in paradise.