Insofar as this was Hobbes's view, it was because he was an adherent of the command theory of law already discussed.
First, with regard to the development of the command theory of law, philosophers such as Hugo Grotius (1583 1645), Francisco Suárez (1548 1617), and Samuel, baron von Pufendorf (1632 94), developed theories of what persons must be like in order to be capable of imposing and subjecting themselves to law.
Hart criticized the command theories of law associated with John Austin and Bentham because of their failure to make sense of all those familiar instances of laws that confer legal powers on individuals rather than commanding them to abstain from particular conduct on pain of punishment.
Common-law theory was an important departure from the command model of law, primarily because it moved away from the statute as a paradigm and instead focused on explaining the operation of the courts and their relation to the larger community.
Austin's particular command theory of law has been subject to pervasive criticism, but its simplicity gives it an evocative power that continues to attract adherents.
Hart could write that "Austin's influence on the development of England of [Jurisprudence] has been greater than that of any other writer," (Hart 1955: p. xvi) even while Austin's particular command theory of law became almost friendless, and is today probably best known from Hart's use of it (1958, 1994) as a foil for the elaboration of Hart's own, more nuanced approach to legal theory.
The Final Authority Judge Roush is a graduate of Wellesley College and the University of Virginia's law school, and lawyers who have appeared before her praise her intellect and command of the law.
She is widely considered to have a sharp command of the law and of her courtroom.
At the hearings, she showed an impressive command of the law.
You have to have more command of the law than he does to subvert it.
