Lecture VI
That individual or body (to whom such obedience is given) is not in a habit of
obedience to a determinate human superior.
Since bulk, habit of obedience, and independent are relative terms, the
abstraction of Sovereign or Independent Political Society cannot be precisely
defined.
In such cases, the society (including its Sovereign) is a society political and
independent.
Lecture VI (cont.)
International Law is not positive law. The duties it imposes are only
enforced by moral sanctions, or fear of incurring the wrath of more powerful
sovereign(s).
Lecture VI (cont.)
Defers habitually to the opinions and sentiments of its own subjects (or at
least a more or less defined subset of subjects.)
Directly
Lecture VI (cont.)
Austin does not buy the concept of separation of the powers of sovereignty
(executive (including judicial), and legislative), because under any known
system, each distinct party to which those powers may be given also
exercise other types of powers.
The supreme are the infinite political powers of the sovereign partly
exercised and partly dormant, but nevertheless existing.
Lecture VI (cont.)
It is completely independent, or
Lecture VI (cont.)
Lecture VI (cont.)
Liberty is, therefore, simply those areas which the sovereign has chooses to
leave within the discretion of the individual, realizing that the sovereign may
at any time abridge that liberty at its discretion.
Those who divide governments between free and despotic are simply
lovers of democracy.
The true distinction is not the power of the government, for they all truly
have complete powers, rather whether it is so constituted as to be beneficial
to the people.
A sovereign is not subject to the civil law, because he would thus be subject
to himself.
Lecture VI (cont.)
There are no sovereign rights with respect to the sovereigns relation to its
people.
The ones who have a relative duty not to interfere with that right.
Custom
Habit
The tactic or actual consent of the people is not the true origin or
permanence of government only that they wish to escape a state of nature
by living in a political society and therefore tolerate whatever government
exists.
Lecture VI (cont.)
1. The rights and duties of the government and governed flow only from the
law of God, positive law, and positive morality.
The degree of clearness or precision with which they conceive the ends in
which their sentiments coincide.
8. Conquest
Lecture VI (cont.)
1. De jure and also de facto (lawful, right, just, and being obeyed)