Hobbes - Leviathan.pdf

uying, victualling and manning of ships), but the particular gain
of every adventurer, it is reason that every one be acquainted with
the employment of his own; that is, that every one be of the
assembly that shall have the power to order the same; and be
acquainted with their accounts. And therefore the representative of
such a body must be an assembly, where every member of the body may be
present at the consultations, if he will.
If a body politic of merchants contract a debt to a stranger by
the act of their representative assembly, every member is liable by
himself for the whole. For a stranger can take no notice of their
private laws, but considereth them as so many particular men,
obliged every one to the whole payment, till payment made by one
dischargeth all the rest: but if the debt be to one of the company,
the creditor is debtor for the whole to himself, and cannot
therefore demand his debt, but only from the common stock, if there be
any.
If the Commonwealth impose a tax upon the body, it is understood
to be laid upon every member proportionably to his particular
adventure in the company. For there is in this case no other common
stock, but what is made of their particular adventures.
If a mulct be laid upon the body for some unlawful act, they only
are liable by whose votes the act was decreed, or by whose
assistance it was executed; for in none of the rest is there any other
crime but being of the body; which, if a crime, because the body was
ordained by the authority of the Commonwealth, is not his.
If one of the members be indebted to the body, he may be sued by the
body, but his goods cannot be taken, nor his person imprisoned by
the authority of the body; but only by authority of the
Commonwealth: for they can do it by their own authority, they can by
their own authority give judgement that the debt is due; which is as
much as to be judge in their own cause.
These bodies made for the government of men, or of traffic, be
either perpetual, or for a time prescribed by writing. But there be
bodies also whose times are limited, and that only by the nature of
their business. For example, if a sovereign monarch, or a sovereign
assembly, shall think fit to give command to the towns and other
several parts of their territory to send to him their deputies to
inform him of the condition and necessities of the subjects, or to
advise with him for the making of good laws, or for any other cause,
as with one person representing the whole country, such deputies,
having a place and time of meeting assigned them, are there, and at
that time, a body politic, representing every subject of that
dominion; but it is only for such matters as shall be propounded
unto them by that man, or assembly, that by the sovereign authority
sent for them; and when it shall be declared that nothing more shall
be propounded, nor debated by them, the body is dissolved. For if they
were the absolute representative of the people, then were it the
sovereign assembly; and so there would be two sovereign assemblies, or
two sovereigns, over the same people; which cannot consist with
their peace. And therefore where there is once a sovereignty, there
can be no absolute representation of the people, but by it. And for
the limits of how far such a body shall represent the whole people,
they are set forth in the writing by which they were sent for. For the
people cannot choose their deputies to other intent than is in the
writing directed to them from their sovereign expressed.
Private bodies regular and lawful are those that are constituted
without letters, or other written authority, saving the laws common to