Treatise of the Laws of Nature

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A Treatise of the Laws of Nature, originallytitled De Legibus Naturae, first appeared in 1672as a theoretical response to a range of issues that cametogether during the late 1660s. It conveyed a convictionthat science might offer an effective means ofdemonstrating both the contents and the obligatoryforce of the law of nature. At a time when Hobbes swork appeared to suggest that the application ofscience undermined rather than supported the idea ofobligatory natural law, Cumberland s De LegibusNaturae provided a scientific explanation of the naturalnecessity of altruism.Through his argument for a moral obligation tonatural law, Cumberland made a critical intervention inthe early debate over the role of natural jurisprudenceat a moment when the natural law project was widelysuspected of heterodoxy and incoherence.Liberty Fund publishes the first modern edition of ATreatise of the Laws of Nature, based on JohnMaxwell s English translation of 1727. The editionincludes Maxwell s extensive notes and appendixes. Italso provides, for the first time in English, manuscriptadditions by Cumberland and material from Barbeyrac s1744 French edition and John Towers s edition of1750.Richard Cumberland(1632 1718) was bishop ofPeterborough.Jon Parkin is a Lecturer in Politicsat the University of York, United Kingdom.Knud Haakonssen is Professor of Intellectual History and Director of the Centre for Intellectual History at the University of Sussex, England. "