*!;": J Sj 102 



of some power, to cause them to be observed " will not guaran- 

 tee that such desires will not sometimes 'break out' against 

 the laws, and the individual seek his satisfaction, if he can, at 

 the expense of his fellows. Therefore, "there must be some 

 coercive power to compel men equally to the performance of 

 their covenants, by the terror of some punishment". 1 



"The only way to erect such a common power, as may be 

 able to defend them from the invasion of foreigners, and the 

 injuries of one another, is, to confer all their power and 

 strength upon one man, or upon one assembly of men, that 

 may reduce all their wills by plurality of voices into one wilt- 

 that is, to bear their person * * *. This is more than consent, or 

 concord: it is a real unity of them all, in one and the same 

 person." Hence a commonwealth, or state, may be denned 

 as "one person, of whose acts a great multitude, by mutual 

 covenants one with another, have made themselves every one, 

 the author, to the end he may use the strength and means of 

 them all, as he shall think expedient, for their peace and 

 common defence". 2 



In the choice between commonwealth and king, Hobbes 

 decides, after some argument, in favour of the absolute rule 

 of a king 3 and the king, as the sovereign of such a state, has 

 complete authority. According to the covenant, whatever he 

 does is an act of the commonwealth as a whole, for all the 

 citizens have transferred their "power and strength" to him. 

 He is the head of the great Leviathan, as it were, and the whole 

 body moves with one accord for the peace and unity of all the 

 members. 



This sovereign power is not bound in any way by contract 

 with his subjects. Only the subjects are bound by their agree- 

 ments with each other. Yet, although not bound by any 

 agreement or law, the sovereign has some duties, for, the 

 sovereign power was erected "to the end he may use the 

 strength and means of them all, as he shall think expedient, 

 for their peace and common defence". This is to be done by 

 enforcement of the civil law. 



"The law of nature, and the civil law," it is said, " contain 

 each other, and are of equal extent. For the laws of nature 

 * * * are not properly laws, but qualities that dispose men to 

 peace and obedience. When a commonwealth is once settled, 

 then are they actual laws, and not before; as being then the 

 commands of the commonwealth; and therefore also civil 



'O.C. p. 153. 

 2 O.C. pp. 157-8. 

 3 O.C. Ch. 19. 



