Hobbes' Views on Law & Coercion

This study will discuss the views of Thomas Hobbes on law and coercion, with emphasis on coercion, from a political science perspective.

Hobbes' theory of political philosophy begins with his notion of men in the state of nature, in which they existed before the emergence of political or civil society. As we read in Stumpf, "In this state of nature all men are equal and equally have the right to whatever they consider necessary for their survival. Equality here means simply that anyone is capable of hurting his neighbor and taking what he judges he needs for his own protection . . . The word right in the bare state of nature is a man's freedom 'to do what he would, and against whom he thought fit, and to possess, use and enjoy all that he would, or could get'" (Stumpf, 1966, pp. 243-244).

The "covenants" out of which emerge political society are first borne from the need to soften the state of nature as Hobbes sees it. Justice, says Hobbes, is contained in the state of nature, as are all the desirable qualities of political society: "And in this law of nature, consisteth the fountain and original of justice. For where no covenant hath preceded, there hath no right been transferred, and every man has right to every thing; and consequently, no action can be unjust. But when a covenant is made, then to break it is unjust: and the definition of injustice, is no other than the not performance of covenant" (Hobbes, 1968, p. 94).

While men remain in the state of nature,

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tandard for behavior in the natural world. True law is civil law, under the social contract, and, especially, under the power of the sovereign, in whose hands Hobbes placed great power, including the power of coercion. Stumpf writes that according to Hobbes, "Law begins only when there is a sovereign . . . A law is defined as a command of the sovereign. It follows that where there is no sovereign, there is no law. To be sure, Hobbes affirmed that even in the state of nature, men have knowledge of the natural law, and in a special sense the natural law is binding even in the state of nature. But only when there is a sovereign can there be a legal order, because only then is there an apparatus of law in which the power of enforcement is central" (Stumpf, 1966, p. 246). Clearly, Hobbes places great power in the hands of the sovereign. He goes to great pains to explain the state of nature and the purpose of the social contract in easing the state of war in nature in large part because of this tremendous power which he ultimately gives to the sovereign. The sovereign's power is so great that Hobbes felt it necessary to point out the elaborate evolution of that power and the willingness of the subjects of the sovereign to give

Category: Government - H