The Elements Of Law

In The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic, philosopher Thomas Hobbes endeavors to enlighten the bond between physics, psychology and politics. Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy. Hobbes is best known for his 1651 book Leviathan, in which he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory. In addition to political philosophy, Hobbes contributed to a diverse array of other fields, including history, jurisprudence, geometry, the physics of gases, theology, and ethics, as well as philosophy in general.

This casebook is ideal for any introduction to law or legal method course. It is designed to develop analytic, interpretive, and advocacy skills that will be helpful to students across the range of substantive courses, while also encouraging students to think critically about the judicial process and the role of judges in a democracy. The second edition of Elements of Law significantly reworks and updates the first edition, which was published in 1994, while preserving the essential features and many of the principal cases from that edition. This edition is more compact than its predecessor because the lengthy materials on jurisprudence have been eliminated. Thus, half of the book is devoted to the common law and half to statutory interpretation.

This work was originally published in 1650 as two separate books, Human nature, and De corpore politico. Human nature contained the first 13 chapters, De Corpore politico contained chapters 14 thru 19 of the first work, and chapters 20 thru 29. The present edition considers chapters 1 thru 19 as part 1, Human nature, and chapters 20 thru 29 as part 2, De corpore politico.

"The Elements of Law - Natural and Politic" from Thomas Hobbes. English philosopher (1588-1679).

Focusing on the argumentative, narrative, and descriptive style found in legal briefs and judicial opinions, this text should be a thought provoking examination of effective argumentation in law.