Fundamental laws of the republic according to James Harrington
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36592/opiniaofilosofica.2026.v17.1287Keywords:
Republic, Fundamental Laws, James HarringtonAbstract
In his work The commonwealth of the Oceana (1656), James Harrington, in reporting on the republican ideology, highlights its links with Republicanism. In this work, which is seen as a proposal for a political order for the England of the interregnum and, at the same time, as a critique of the Protectorate, we also read that the English thinker structures the republic under two fundamental laws: agrarian law and electoral law. In view of the structuring function of these two laws, the main aim of this article is to analyze the fundamental laws of the republic according to Harrington. To this end, it first examines what the notion of agrarian law consists of; secondly, it aims to investigate how electoral law applies in the system of elections, and thirdly, it aims to demonstrate the reasons why agrarian and electoral laws are inscribed as fundamental laws of the republic.
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