Gerald Postema presents the collected writings on legal, political, and moral theory of a key thinker of the 17th century, Sir Matthew Hale. Hale develops a unique and sophisticated account of the nature and foundations of common law, with extended reflections on natural law, moral and legal reasoning, and the legal limits of political authority.

• Editor's Introduction


• I: Treatise of the Nature of Laws in General and touching the Law of Nature


• II: The History of the Common Law of England


• III: Preface to Rolle's Abridgment


• IV: Considerations touching the Amendment or Alteration of Laws


• V: Reflections on Mr Hobbes his Dialogue of the Laws


• VI: Prerogatives of the King


• VII: Jurisdiction of the Lords House or Parliament

Gerald J. Postema has taught philosophy and law at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, since 1980. He held visiting posts at Cambridge University, the University of Athens, the Australian National University, Yale University, and the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Fellow of the European University Institute and of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He has written extensively on the common-law tradition, contemporary legal philosophy, and on topics in legal, political, and moral philosophy.