Denisons, Aliens, and Citizens in Locke's Second Treatise of Government

Abstract

This paper addresses one of the main difficulties raised by paragraphs 116–22 of the Second Treatise of Government, beginning with a question that is as simple as it is neglected: What was the juridical status of the denizen in Locke’s time? The word ‘denison’ (cf. II §122) in fact plays a key role in the interpretation of the text, and a correct understanding of its meaning in the juridical context of the seventeenth century may offer some new clues to the solution of the puzzles posed by the well known distinction between tacit and express consent.