With the notion of individual rights as important in moral and political theory now as it has ever been, there is renewed speculation over the origins and development of this concept. Liberty, Right and Nature is a work of unusual scope and power that takes a fresh look at this intellectual tradition, and deploys an enormous range of further sources in order to reassess our understanding of its development, beginning with the texts of the thirteenth century poverty controversy and ending with a discussion of Thomas Hobbes' theory of natural rights.