Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Pufendorf
- Cambridge Companions to Law
- The Cambridge Companion to Pufendorf
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction: Life, Work and Historical Context
- 2 Politics and the Constitution of the Empire
- 3 Pufendorf’s Composite Method
- 4 The Metaphysics of Moral Entities
- 5 Human Nature, the State of Nature and Natural Law
- 6 Pacts, Language and Property
- 7 Family and Marriage
- 8 Pacts, Sovereignty and Forms of Government
- 9 The Civil Order: Law, Punishment and Social Value
- 10 The Law of Nations
- 11 Polemics and Controversies: Regarding the Eris Scandica
- 12 State, Church, Toleration, Reconciliation
- 13 Political Histories
- 14 Receptions, Contestations and Confusions
- Bibliography
- Index
8 - Pacts, Sovereignty and Forms of Government
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 November 2022
- The Cambridge Companion to Pufendorf
- Cambridge Companions to Law
- The Cambridge Companion to Pufendorf
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction: Life, Work and Historical Context
- 2 Politics and the Constitution of the Empire
- 3 Pufendorf’s Composite Method
- 4 The Metaphysics of Moral Entities
- 5 Human Nature, the State of Nature and Natural Law
- 6 Pacts, Language and Property
- 7 Family and Marriage
- 8 Pacts, Sovereignty and Forms of Government
- 9 The Civil Order: Law, Punishment and Social Value
- 10 The Law of Nations
- 11 Polemics and Controversies: Regarding the Eris Scandica
- 12 State, Church, Toleration, Reconciliation
- 13 Political Histories
- 14 Receptions, Contestations and Confusions
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Pacts or “social contracts” form the basis of sovereignty in many early modern theories of political authority, and in Pufendorf’s too. Most such theories treat the pact as the means by which a pre-existing right—for example, divine right, or the natural right of individuals grounded in their strength, reason, or property—is transferred to a sovereign on the condition that the right be protected, to be rescinded if it is not. For Pufendorf, however, there is no pre-existing right since the sovereignty pact creates a new right—the right to issue unchallengeable commands for the purposes of achieving social peace—by instituting two new moral personae: the citizen who obeys the sovereign in exchange for protection, and the sovereign invested with the right of absolute command to provide social peace. Since Pufendorf’s sovereignty is constituted not by a prior moral right, but rather by the capacity to exercise unchallengeable authority for the end of social peace, there is no naturally rightful form of government. Pufendorf thus takes a neutral and pluralistic view of the three traditional forms of government—monarchical, aristocratic and democratic—insofar as each is capable of exercising the capacity for sovereign rule.
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- The Cambridge Companion to Pufendorf , pp. 190 - 215Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022