By Kenneth Okonkwo
John Locke was a renowned human rights activist of the natural law school of thought. He wrote that certain rights, self-evidently, pertain to individuals by virtue of their being human beings. In his words, man entered into a social contract by which he surrendered to the sovereign, not his rights, but only the power to preserve order and enforce the human rights of man. The individual retained the natural rights to life, liberty, and property for these were the natural and inalienable rights of man.
According to him, the purpose of government is the preservation of the lives, liberties and possessions of members of society. He warned that as long as government fulfills this purpose, its law should be binding. When it ceases to protect or begins to encroach on these natural rights, laws lose their validity and the government loses its legitimacy.
