Afterwords, elections began to become the principle which determined the legitimacy of power. Beforehand, the monarchy was the institution wielding power. Afterwords, legislatures began to wield power. They are the institution in which the middle class begins to exercise power. The purpose of legislatures is to write law.
Law is central to the order of a society after the liberal revolution.
No one is above the law, not even the king. Constitutions define the distribution of power. Ideas of the enlightenment also affected the liberal revolution. The belief that there are natural laws, such as the inalienable rights of the individual, was a part of the new system. A Bill of Rights also became a part of the new society because of a fear of the power of government and the need to protect the individual from that power.