Hobbes's self-effacing natural law theory

This paper investigates the structure of Hobbes's normative theory and argu es that he developed a 'self-effacing' natural law theory that diverges in interesting ways from both positivist and natural law conceptions of law. I n the process, it proposes and defends a new way of understanding how it is that Hobbes's laws of nature require civil obedience, as well as a new und erstanding of the relationship between natural law and the right of nature in Hobbes.