John Locke

John Locke (1632–1704)
 
took up Hobbes' idea that the state must justify its exercise of power.

Going beyond Hobbes, however, he identified fundamental and inalienable rights to life, liberty and property. Thus the state has the function of guaranteeing and upholding these natural rights of man. When it fails to do so, it loses its legitimization.
Unlike Hobbes, Locke does not assign untrammelled power to the state, insisting instead on the division of power between the legislative (lawmaking) power and the executive (law-enforcing) power. Later, Charles de Montesquieu (1689–1755) would take up this idea and distinguish a third power, the judicative (law interpreting) power. With Locke, the natural rights of the individual are superior to the state, and so the individual can claim them as his/her personal rights over against the state.

The ideas of John Locke had an important influence on the American Declaration of Independence.