The theory of divine rights of the kings also known as the Divine Origin theory is one of the oldest theory of the origin of the state. The theory explains about how the state came into being. The supporters of this theory believed that the state doesn’t come into being by the people but it is the handiwork of God on the earth. The state was created by the God and the King was the representatives or agents of God on the earth.
The king was given the divine power and he was to be responsible to the God alone for his deeds and was not responsible to the people for any of his works. The king was given the supreme power to rule over the people through God. This theory has made the king above law and no subjects will have the right to question his authority or his action.
The theory prevailed in the old age where religion has dominated the minds of the people. The subjects believed that as the king is the agent of God so they have to abbey the king and to go against the king will be a sinful act. But in the twentieth century, this theory has been criticized or we may say it came under a criticism being an incorrect explanation of the origin of the state.
There are many causes for the decline of the theory. In the first place it was the emergence of the social contract theory as a more acceptable theory, the divine origin theory was dashed into the ground as this social contract theory has suggested that the state is the handiwork of man and not the creation by the grace of God. Second, was the separation of the church and the state. Thus the secular outlook made the divine origin theory totally unacceptable. Third, is the emergence of democracy because democracy it glorified the individual and not the king who was considered as the agent of God.
The people was no longer superstitious and have no blind faith, they began to accept only those things that stood the test of logic and reasoning, for this reason the theory suffered a setback.
