Note on copyright

The text is that of the edition by Tönnies (1889). It differs very little from the earlier edition by Molesworth, and both editors modernised the spelling and punctuation. The Molesworth edition is out of copyright, since Molesworth died in 1855. The position with Tönnies is more complicated, since he died in 1936. His edition went out of copyright in 1986, but recently went back into copyright, under European legislation which extended the period to 70 years after the author’s death. However, versions which were made between 1986 and the change in the law can continue to be used as if the work were out of copyright.

The chapter headings are taken from the edition by J.C.A. Gaskin (Oxford, 1994), which otherwise differs from Tönnies in only the tiniest points of detail, and a number of typographical errors.

There is no single original, since Hobbes published the work in manuscript, and there are minor variations between the surviving copies. The first printed edition of 1650 was taken (without Hobbes’s permission) from one of the manuscripts, and it was the version which Molesworth used.

Formatting © George MacDonald Ross.

Elements of Law (from the beginning)

Epistle Dedicatory
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29

Go to Index to Hobbes