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Medieval & Early Modern
William of Ockham
c. 1287–1347 · Natural rights
Rights belong to the person, not to the office.
In their words
“Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.”
Excommunicated and exiled for defending Franciscan poverty against a papal claim to own all property, Ockham developed an early theory of natural rights held by individuals, to property, self-defense and consent, which no ruler could justly erase. His Breviloquium is a medieval case against total authority, made by a man who paid a real price for making it.
Why it matters for freedom
His defense of Franciscan poverty was a defense of the idea that no authority owns what free people hold in common.
Who they stood against
the papacy's claim to own property and rule by decree