Hobbes on Sovereignty by Acquisition in Leviathan

Abstract

Hobbes describes two ways in which sovereignty comes to exist, sovereignty by institution and sovereignty by acquisition. Sometimes in Leviathan it seems that sovereignty by institution consists of a covenant among all and only the subjects of a commonwealth and that sovereignty by acquisition does not. If this interpretation were correct, then several unfortunate consequences follow: (1) Commonwealths could have two kinds of sovereigns governing the same territory, with different kinds of subjects with different obligations. (2) The kind of commonwealth that occurs most frequently in history, sovereignty by acquisition, would have a less prominent place in his political philosophy and be less clearly described. And (3) sovereignty by acquisition would lack Leviathan’s two most innovative aspects, authorization and representation. The author’s alternative interpretation of sovereignty by acquisition offered here contains the essential features of sovereignty by institution; and the unfortunate consequences are eliminated or mitigated.