De Cive: Philosophical Rudiments Concerning Government and Society

Hobbes's masterpiece of 1651, where life without government is nasty, brutish and short, and a social contract creates an all-powerful sovereign. The complete text, including the parts on religion and the church.

Thomas Hobbes

The political half of The Elements of Law, the 1640 work where Hobbes first argued for a strong sovereign as the cure for civil war. A compact version of the ideas he later expanded in Leviathan.

Thomas Hobbes

A philosopher and a lawyer argue over who really makes the law, the judges or the sovereign. Hobbes's late challenge to Sir Edward Coke and the common law tradition.

Thomas Hobbes