ABSTRACT
There are two major kinds of law in Leviathan: natural law, and civil law. The civil law can only exist within a political authority. Mark Murphy argues that 'Hobbes was more a latter-day Thomas Aquinas than an early version of John Austin'. On this interpretation, then, the law of nature overrides civil law. Hobbes says that the laws of nature come into being when 'a commonwealth is once settled', but 'not before' then. Hobbes must mean by this that though the content of natural law exists and can be known before political authority exists, in the state of nature it lacks the force of law. The interpretation of the law of nature is the sentence of the judge constituted by the sovereign authority. The sovereign is meant to govern for the good, that is, the safety, of the people. Punishments and rewards are to be applied for the common benefit.
