Ideological and Theosophical Prerequisites for J. Locke's Criminal Law Views

Abstract

Introduction: this article continues the author's series of works examining the entire body of John Locke's writings to identify his criminal law paradigm and the factors that influenced its formation in specific historical contexts. Purpose: while previous studies have identified historical, biographical, and sociopolitical prerequisites, this review focuses on the ideological and religious aspects that, in their own way, influenced the thinker and shaped his views. Methods: the study employed general scientific methods such as description, analysis, synthesis as well as specific scientific methods: historical-legal, comparativelegal. Results: the paper has explored the legacy to which Locke drew. He did not write from a "blank slate," but acknowledged the contributions of his predecessors and colleagues, including J. Calvin, R. Bellarmine, F. Hunton, R. Parsons, J. Buchanan, J. Major, W. Ockham, and J. Buridan. Through polemics with the English philosopher Robert Filmer, the thinker formulated and published two treatises on government, in which he expounded his criminal-political views. For the Enlightenment thinker, Filmer was a “composite figure” since Locke contrasted himself not only with Filmer but also, through him, with all supporters of royalism – H. Fern, J. Heywood, A. Blackwood, J. Barclay, and others. Through identifying the full spectrum of ideas surrounding the thinker, the paper reconstructs a picture of the topic considered and assesses the originality of Locke's approaches to understanding crime and punishment. Conclusions: the theme of the relationship between subjects and rulers is not new – it was not discovered by Filmer and Locke. By the time they joined the discussion, a criminal-law element had already been incorporated into it. The vanguard position of this element was determined by the fact that supreme command was primarily realized through obedience, while disobedience was corrected through punishment as the key form of coercion. Robert Filmer and John Locke accepted this axiom and, in their treatises, continued to directly link authority with the right to punish.