There are five institutional characteristics that define a government, and that every government possesses; these are sovereignty, hierarchy (or authority), law, sanctions, and succession. As we established in a previous essay, the family matches each of these characteristics, and is thus considered to be a legitimate form of government, by nature sovereign and independent from outside intrusion. We will go over in more detail the family as it relates to each of the five characteristics.

We will begin with sovereignty. This correlates to the question of who is in charge. When two people become married, they establish a covenant, or a series of vows, with each other. This is a commitment to each other; a commitment that nothing will be able to intrude or come between them. From this commitment, the family government is established. The married couple, who eventually become the parents to their children, are sovereign over the household. Jointly, they have the final say when it comes to matters within the family. The family is a sovereign government because it was not established by civil government, but rather the mutual agreement of the individuals who establish it.

Next, we have hierarchy, or authority. In this context, hierarchy refers to the chain of command; that is, who is to report to who. The chain of command in a family is pretty simple. We established that the parents are the sovereign authority, or the head of the family government. Thus, we see that the children are implicitly under the express authority of the parents.

Third, we have law. For the purposes of a family government, this refers to the rules set in place at the parents’ discretion, of which the children are informed and thus are obligated to follow. This is a universal principle; if the children fail to obey, they will receive negative sanctions. This leads directly into the fourth characteristic.

Sanctions, or the potential rewards or consequences that can come about as a result of ones actions, play an important role in the family government. In any government, the sovereign authority by nature has the ability to impose sanctions. In this particular context, the parents can impose both positive and negative sanctions based on the “law,” or rules, they have set in place in the household. Obedient children may receive positive sanctions; a reward, perhaps. Those who do not obey are subject to the imposition of negative sanctions, just as with any other form of government. Family governments are free to punish children for their rule violations, so long as these punishments do not conflict with the laws of the civil government, of course. Under that assumption, family governments inherently possess the right to operate independently and free of intrusion from outside parties.

Finally, we have the concept of succession. This refers to the future; in the case of a civil government, you may think of this as the transfer of power. The same principle can be applied to a family government. When children become of age, they are no longer under the authority of their parents. The sovereign authority once held by the parents will shift down to the next generation of parents, creating an endless cycle of family government that can be repeated as long as the family line continues.🔹