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How did Thomas Hobbes define law as a command of the sovereign?

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The Greek philosopher Plato — Philosophy of law Plato, marble portrait bust copied from an original of the 4th century bce; in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.

In the philosophy of law, Thomas Hobbes is widely regarded as a founder of legal positivism. Central to his theory is the command theory of law, which he famously articulated in his work Leviathan (1651).1

Hobbes defined law not as counsel, but as a command. Specifically, he described civil or positive laws as the rules that the commonwealth has commanded through word, writing, or other sufficient signs of the sovereign's will, directing subjects on which actions are to be performed or avoided. Because laws serve as these "signs of the will" of the sovereign, Hobbes emphasized that they must be sufficiently public and intelligible to ordinary citizens to be effective.1

For Hobbes, the sovereign is the supreme interpreter of law, and this authority is essential to maintaining order and preventing the anarchy of a "war of all against all." By establishing law as a clear, authoritative command, the sovereign provides the necessary structure to ensure the peace and personal security of all citizens.12