Important traits of Lock's doctrine

1. The civil society or body politic is the product of the contract which is based on the consent of all men. The consent is a basic element of any liberal state.

2. The state/body politic/civil society would be administered on the principle of majority opinion and this principle is followed very strictly in any modern liberal state.

3. The councils of the body politic must follow the terms and conditions laid down in the body of the contract and any failure will be followed by the removal of the governors from the authority and this would be done by people.

4. It is the main function of the state to take required action for the protection of life, liberty and property. Today these rights are basic and no responsible government can evade the responsibility.

The defence of these basic rights enforces restrictions upon the governors of state. Locke concluded that people of the state of nature because of the non-existence of proper authority and clear law, could not enjoy the right to life, liberty and property and this stimulated them to form a state.

5. Significant element of liberal state is constitutionalism. It has been demanded by protagonists of liberalism that Locke is the ancestor of constitutionalism. He passionately claimed that the authority of the civil society must discharge its responsibility strictly in agreement with the constitution of law. It is the most influential limitation on state.

6. Locke greatly supported the revolution, bill of right and settlement of 1688. The purpose of all these was to impose constitutional limitations upon the authority of the Crown in England. He sturdily opposed the concept of Leviathan devised by Hobbes. Locke's idea about revolution is different from today's thought. People will revolt if authority fails to act in accordance with, the terms of contract.

7. Locke's state is a fiduciary trust and the core idea of trust is its powers are which very limited by the terms contained in the trust. The persons in charge of the trust have no power to disrupt the rules. It can be said that a liberal state is to some extent a trust which performs certain duties. The state cannot do anything beyond what it has been asked to do. This point has been explained by J. C. McClelland in his History of Western Political Thought.

8. Key component of liberal state is the concept of society vs the state. Locke regarded of a society which was pre-political but not pre-social. Locke's society had no political colours or political function but it possessed all the social features. Some philosophers have concluded that Locke gave priority to society than the state.

Society was prior to state. Society was more important than the state. In such a situation, the state cannot be permitted to supersede the society. Today, all the protectors of liberal state think in such manner. It can be said that Locke offered coherent defence of liberal state (Ruth W. Grant, 2010).