The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Introduction
• The Social Contract Or Principles of Political Right
• Foreword
• Book I
• Chapter I: Subject of the First Book
• Chapter II: The First Societies
• Chapter III: The Right of the Strongest
• Chapter IV: Slavery
• Chapter V: That We Must Always Go Back to a First Convention
• Chapter VI: The Social Compact
• Chapter VII: The Sovereign
• Chapter VIII: The Civil State
• Chapter IX: Real Property
• Book Ii
• Chapter I: That Sovereignty Is Inalienable
• Chapter II: That Sovereignty Is Indivisible
• Chapter III: Whether the General Will Is Fallible
• Chapter IV: The Limits of the Sovereign Power
• Chapter V: The Right of Life and Death
• Chapter VI: Law
• Chapter VII: The Legislator
• Chapter VIII: The People
• Chapter IX: The People ( Continued )
• Chapter X: The People ( Continued )
• Chapter XI: The Various Systems of Legislation
• Chapter XII: The Division of the Laws
• Book Iii
• Chapter I: Government In General
• Chapter II: The Constituent Principle In the Various Forms of Government
• Chapter III: The Division of Governments
• Chapter IV: Democracy
• Chapter V: Aristocracy
• Chapter VI: Monarchy
• Chapter VII: Mixed Governments
• Chapter VIII: That All Forms of Government Do Not Suit All Countries
• Chapter IX: The Marks of a Good Government
• Chapter X: The Abuse of Government and Its Tendency to Degenerate
• Chapter XI: The Death of the Body Politic
• Chapter XII: How the Sovereign Authority Maintains Itself
• Chapter XIII: The Same ( Continued )
• Chapter XIV: The Same ( Continued )
• Chapter XV: Deputies Or Representatives
• Chapter XVI: That the Institution of Government Is Not a Contract
• Chapter XVII: The Institution of Government
• Chapter XVIII: How to Check the Usurpations of Government
• Book Iv
• Chapter I: That the General Will Is Indestructible
• Chapter II: Voting
• Chapter III: Elections
• Chapter IV: The Roman Comitia
• Chapter V: The Tribunate
• Chapter VI: The Dictatorship
• Chapter VII: The Censorship
• Chapter VIII: Civil Religion
• Chapter IX: Conclusion
• A Discourse Which Won the Prize At the Academy of Dijon In 1750, On This Question Proposed By the Academy: Has the Restoration of the Arts and Sciences Had a Purifying Effect Upon Morals ?
• A Discourse On the Moral Effects of the Arts and Sciences Decipimur Specie Recti. — Horace.
• The First Part
• The Second Part
• A Discourse On a Subject Proposed By the Academy of Dijon: What Is the Origin of Inequality Among Men, and Is It Authorised By Natural Law ?
• A Discourse On Political Economy

FOREWORD

This little treatise is part of a longer work which I began years ago without realising my limitations, and long since abandoned. Of the various fragments that might have been extracted from what I wrote, this is the most considerable, and, I think, the least unworthy of being offered to the public. The rest no longer exists.