The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates

Part of the Politics series
Republicanism
Concepts Anti-monarchism Anti-corruption Civil society Civic virtue Consent of the governed Democracy Democratization Liberty as non-domination Mixed government Political representation Popular sovereignty Public participation Republic Res publica Rule of law Self-governance Separation of powers Social contract Social equality
Schools Classical Modern Federal Kemalism Khomeinism Nasserism Neo-republicanism Venizelism
Types Autonomous Capitalist Christian Democratic Federal Federal parliamentary Imperial Islamic Parliamentary People's Revolutionary Secular Sister Soviet
Philosophers Arendt Baggini Bello Bentham Bodin Cattaneo Chappell Cicero Condorcet Crick Franklin Harrington Honderich Jefferson Kant Locke Machiavelli Madison Mazzini Mill Montesquieu Paine Pettit Polybius Rousseau Sandel Sidney Sunstein Tocqueville Warburton Wollstonecraft
Politicians Adams (Gerry) Adams (John) Atatürk Azaña Bartley Benn (Tony) Bennett Black Bolívar Burgon Campbell Chapman Clark (Katy) Clarke (Tom) Connolly Cromwell Davidson Drakeford Etherington Fabiani Ferguson Flynn (Paul) Flynn (Stephen) Galloway Gambetta Garibaldi de Gaulle Greer Grévy Griffith Griffiths Harvie Hatton Hébert Hopkins Huppert Iorwerth Jackson Jay Jefferson Jones (Elin) Jones (Lynne) Juárez Kane Khomeini La Malfa Lewis Lincoln Lucas Mackay Mackenzie Madison Magid McKechin Mullin Naysmith Mannin McDonnell Nandy Nehru Pound Prescott Ritchie Robespierre Sayed Skates Skinner Slater Slaughter Smith Spadolini Taverne Venizelos Wilson Wood
Theoretical works Republic (c. 375 BC) De re publica (54–51 BC) Discourses on Livy (1531) The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649) The Commonwealth of Oceana (1656) Discourses Concerning Government (1698) The Spirit of Law (1748) Discourse on Inequality (1755) The Social Contract (1762) The Federalist Papers (1787–1788) Rights of Man (1791) Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch (1794) Democracy in America (1835–1840) On Revolution (1963)
History Roman Republic Gaṇasaṅgha Classical Athens Republic of Venice Republic of Genoa Republic of Florence Dutch Republic American Revolution French Revolution Spanish American wars of independence Trienio Liberal French Revolution of 1848 5 October 1910 revolution Chinese Revolution Russian Revolution German Revolution of 1918–1919 Turkish War of Independence Mongolian Revolution of 1921 11 September 1922 Revolution 1935 Greek coup d'état attempt Spanish Civil War 1946 Italian institutional referendum 1952 Egyptian revolution 14 July Revolution North Yemen civil war Zanzibar Revolution 1969 Libyan coup d'état 1970 Cambodian coup d'état Metapolitefsi Iranian Revolution 1987 Fijian coups d'état Nepalese Civil War Barbadian Republic Proclamation
National variants Antigua and Barbuda Australia Bahamas Barbados Canada Ireland Jamaica Japan Morocco Netherlands New Zealand Norway Spain Sweden United Kingdom Scotland Wales United States
Related topics Classical radicalism Common good Communitarianism Criticism of monarchy Egalitarianism The Emperor's New Clothes Jacobinism Liberalism List of republics Monarchism Peasant republic Primus inter pares Republic without republicans Republican empire Republican Party
Politics portal
v t e

The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates is a book by John Milton, in which he defends the right of people to execute a guilty sovereign, whether tyrannical or not.

In the text, Milton conjectures about the formation of commonwealths. He comes up with a kind of constitutionalism but not an outright anti-monarchical argument. He gives a theory of how people come into commonwealths and come to elect kings. He explains what the role of a king should be, and conversely what a tyrant is, and why it is necessary to limit a ruler's power through laws and oaths.