Studies in the History of Political Thought from Gerson to Grotius

Figgis, J. N.,  Studies in the History of Political Thought from Gerson to Grotius, 2nd Edn. (Cambridge, 1916).

Excerpt:

“On the other side we have in the Defensor Pacis of Marsilius of Padua one of the most remarkable books in the history of politics. The contents are too well known to need a lengthy description. Here it will suffice to note that the author asserts (1) the complete authority of the civil power, and the purely voluntary nature of religious organization, thus entirely repudiating every kind of political claim put forward for the ecclesiastical organization: (2) the consequent iniquity of persecution by the Church: (3) the original sovereignty of the people, implying the need of a system of representative government, whereby the action of the state may have the full force of the community at its back and the “general will” be no longer confused with particular interests or individual caprice.”

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