XIII (Of the Subordination of the Powers of the Commonwealth) - The legislature has the highest power in the commonwealth. But if it happens that they abuse their power, the people have the right to dissolve the government, for the people retain supreme power at all times.
The executive is in all ways subordinate to the legislature (excepting those cases where the executive has a hand in crafting legislation), for he can do nothing but what the laws of the legislature direct. The executive does have the power, however, to administer and direct the selections of new legislative bodies from time to time, or on a fixed schedule. In this role he is acting directly as a representative of the people, who naturally retain this power.
It is important to make sure the makeup of the legislature is flexible enough to adapt to changing popluations and demographics.
XIV (Of Prerogative) - At times, it is necessary for the executive to invent law on the fly, or even to violate the laws on the books, with a mind to preserving the fundamental Natural law. There is nothing illegitimate about this, for it is possible and even likely that the legitimate written laws will, in certain unforeseen circumstances, lead to a greater harm to the community. In fact, early governments probably operated under these circumstances most of the time.
As a protection against abuse, however, the legislature always has a power to check, through new laws, the decisions the executive has made through his prerogative. Also, the people retain the right to check the executive's overreach.
The biggest danger for abuse is when a subsequent executive uses the previous executive's prerogative as a model for overall governance. The whole point of prerogative is that it is not a rule-- it is invoked only to address immediate circumstance.
There is no body that can rightly and purely decide between the legislature and executive in these cases. Life goes on. What recourse do the citizens ultimately have against what they perceive as an abuse of prerogative? All the aforementioned procedures and checks. But in the meantime, pray. [Seriously.]
XV (Of Paternal, Political and Despotical Power, Considered Together) - Recap.
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Locke is suggesting that the rules of good government are not nearly as fixed as some would hope them to be. Real governing occurs in the gaps between the established rules, and depends on the wisdom and rational judgment of all the actors and participants involved. And so his vision of government depends on trusting that every man is rational, and could at all times fend for himself, only choosing not to out of a perceived benefit of ceding that power. It's very optimistic.
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