This article draws a reconstruction of Thomas Hobbes’ philosophy of crime and punishment. In Leviathan or Philosophical rudiments (De Cive) political science, legal theory and philosophy of crime and punishment compose a coherent unity. This scenario where power and law emerge allows to erect an extraordinarily modern theory that shelters preference for statutory law and suspicion of judicial discretion; consistency and predictability of the legal system; preventism and utilitarianism on punishments; prohibition of ex post facto laws and, in general, defense of strict legality. Boldness and the disconcerting frankness of Hobbes’ thinking coexist with some defiant antinomies. The duty to obey never eclipses the inalienable right to self-preservation. And the theorist of absolute sovereignty can present himself as an unexpected liberal. But perhaps the most disturbing is the permanent reminder that punishment remains brutal violence. The right to punish and the right to resist are the brutal remains of the state of nature.
