At the turn of the 13th century, however, Azo of Bologna argued that the power delegated by the lex regia had always remained at the disposal of the Roman people: "My own view", he wrote, "is that the people never transferred this power except in such a way that they were at the same time able to retain it themselves." A similar view would be articulated by the Monarchomachs of the Reformation era: the Vindiciae contra tyrannos (1579) cited the lex regia to argue that the people had delegated their power only as a concession, and that as a corporate body () they remained superior to the king. By the 17th century, the lex regia could accordingly be interpreted by republicans such as John Milton as a proof of the emergent theory of popular sovereignty.
