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The Medieval Foundations Of John Locke's Theory Of Natural Rights: Rights Of Subsistence And The Principle Of Extreme Necessity, Scott Swanson

Scott Swanson

Of all the things Locke has to say about natural rights, the principle of extreme necessity strikes people today as the strangest element of his thought. It is the single element of his natural rights theory that has been lost; most people today have never heard of it and react with disbelief when it is explained. That principle, which was nevertheless a commonplace of medieval theology and church law, states, simply enough, that a person in extreme necessity—that is, facing the prospect of certain, not necessarily instant, death—may rightfully take the property of other people to sustain his life. This …