What is the principal feature of natural law, according to Thomas Hobbes?

[Jurisprudence] Thomas Hobbes theory proceeds from the ‘social contract’. Before the ‘social contract’, man lived in a chaotic state. According to him, man’s life in a state of nature was one of fear and selfishness. It was ‘solidarity, poor, nasty, brutish and short’. The idea of self-preservation and avoiding misery and pain are inherent in nature. He desires society also. These natural inclinations induced him to enter into a contract and surrender his freedom and power to some authority. The law of nature can be discovered by ‘reason’ which says what a ma should do and what he should not do. Man has a natural desire for security and order. This can be achieved only by establishing a superior authority which must command obedience. Therefore, Hobbes is a supporter of absolutism. Subject has no rights against the sovereign. Though he make a suggestion that the sovereign should be bound by ‘natural law’, it is not more than a moral obligation.


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