Sovereignty thesis
The sovereignty argument of the French constitutional lawyer Jean Bodin ( 1530 - 1596 ), according to it is absolutely necessary that the prince sovereign 's because he could he exercise his authority not optimal. With this thesis, Bodin justifies absolutism as the ideal form of government .
Bodin understands the prince as the image of God on earth, who must be the sole ruler , since his model also rules alone. It is therefore essential that he can enact laws without the consent of another (e.g. the estates , whose power in the 16th century was greater than in Bodin's thesis). If he had to get the approval of a senior, he would not be the sovereign monarch but a subject. If he needed the approval of an equal, he would only be a partner in power; and if his resolutions required the acceptance of someone inferior (e.g. that of the estates), he would not be sovereign.
This sovereignty manifests itself most in the power to enact and break laws, to decide about war and peace, the final instance over the decisions of the authorities, the appointment and dismissal of the highest officials, the taxation and non-taxation of the subjects Grace , the right to change the value and unit of money at will. The prince himself should not be subject to the law, because otherwise he would not be sovereign, but would be subject to the power of the law. Instead, he should follow morality and tradition .
The only laws to which the prince is subject, according to Bodin, are the divine law and the “natural law” , which the prince should not or cannot break.
Bodin was in royal service from 1567 and developed the sovereignty thesis in his main work Les six livres de la république (English: Six books on the state ) from 1576.