The sovereign form of government is above civil law, but not above natural law. It means that sovereign remains limited what it could do to the people by natural law. According to Hobbes "The liberty of a subject, lyeth therefore only in those things, which in regulating their actions, the Sovereign hath praetermitted: such as is the Liberty to buy, and sell, and otherwise contract with one another; to choose their own aboad, their on diet, their own trade of life, and institute their children as they themselves think fit; & the like" (Hobbes, Ch XXI. Pg 264). Here Hobbes trying to explain that the people have the natural right to some transactions in life where Sovereign should not control them. Under the natural law the punishment must be justified. Natural laws are unwritten, where equal and secular environment is provided to each citizen under a single sovereign rule. In the natural state of "war" between human beings, in which there is no sovereign authority to regulate competing interests, there is no legal power to determine right or wrong. These natural laws may be known by reasoning. Hobbes argues that the first law of nature is that each person should seek to live with other in peace. The second law of nature is that each person should only retain the right to as much liberty as he or she is willing to allow to other. Hobbes declares that natural laws are also moral laws. These laws include: equity, justice, mercy, humility, and the other moral virtues. Hobbes also refers these moral laws as 'divine laws.' The laws of the kingdom of God are divine laws, which may be known by reason, by revelation, and by faith. When a sovereign forces its people to live under the natural law it will fulfill the people's necessities.
Self-interests of the people can be limited by a civil society under a sovereign. A sovereign turns the natural laws to civil laws. Liberty of the subject and protection of some of the rights goes under the written civil laws.
