Title page from The Constitution of England; Or, an Account of the English Government

The Constitution of England; Or, an Account of the English Government

The Constitution of England is one of the most distinguished eighteenth-century treatises on English political liberty. Like Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws (1748) and Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769), De Lolme’s account of the English system of government exercised an extensive influence on political debate in Britain, constitutional design in the United States during the Founding era, and the growth of liberal political thought throughout the nineteenth century.

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Key Quotes

Liberty

What then is Liberty? Liberty, I would answer, so far as it is possible for it to exist in a Society of Beings whose interests are almost perpetually opposed to each other, consists in this, that, every Man, while he respects the persons of others, and allows them quietly to enjoy the produce of…