The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 03 (of 11) — Thomas Hobbes — John Shaqi
The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 03 (of 11)
Thomas Hobbes · en
Lastly, when in a war, foreign or intestine, the enemies get a final
victory; so as, the forces of the commonwealth keeping the field no
longer, there is no further protection of subjects in their loyalty;
then is the commonwealth DISSOLVED, and every man at liberty to protect
himself by such courses as his own discretion shall suggest unto him.
For the sovereign is the public soul, giving life and motion to the
commonwealth; which expiring, the members are governed by it no more,
than the carcase of a man, by his departed, though immortal, soul. For
though the right of a sovereign monarch cannot be extinguished by the
act of another; yet the obligation of the members may. For he that wants
protection, may seek it any where; and when he hath it, is obliged,
without fraudulent pretence of having submitted himself out of fear, to
protect his protection as long as he is able. But when the power of an
assembly is once suppressed, the right of the same perisheth utterly;
because the assembly itself is extinct; and consequently, there is no
possibility for the sovereignty to re-enter.
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CHAPTER XXX.
OF THE OFFICE OF THE SOVEREIGN
REPRESENTATIVE.
[Sidenote: The procuration of the good of the people.]
The office of the sovereign, be it a monarch or an assembly, consisteth
in the end, for which he was trusted with the sovereign power, namely
the procuration of _the safety of the people_; to which he is obliged by
the law of nature, and to render an account thereof to God, the author
of that law, and to none but him. But by safety here, is not meant a
bare preservation, but also all other contentments of life, which every
man by lawful industry, without danger, or hurt to the commonwealth,
shall acquire to himself.
[Sidenote: By instruction and laws.]
And this is intended should be done, not by care applied to individuals,
further than their protection from injuries, when they shall complain;
but by a general providence, contained in public instruction, both of
doctrine, and example; and in the making and executing of good laws, to
which individual persons may apply their own cases.
[Sidenote: Against the duty of a sovereign to relinquish any essential
right of sovereignty.]