| Foederis æquas Dicamus leges. Virgil, Æneid xi. |
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.
| Book I |
| 1. Subject of the First Book |
| 2. The First Societies |
| 3. The Right of the Strongest |
| 4. Slavery |
| 5. That We Must Always Go Back to a First Convention |
| 6. The Social Compact |
| 7. The Sovereign |
| 8. The Civil State |
| 9. Real Property |
| Book II |
| 1. That Sovereignty is Inalienable |
| 2. That Sovereignty is Indivisible |
| 3. Whether the General Will is Fallible |
| 4. The Limits of the Sovereign Power |
| 5. The Right of Life and Death |
| 6. Law |
| 7. The Legislator |
| 8. The People |
| 9. The People (continued) |
| 10. The People (continued) |
| 11. The Various Systems of Legislation |
| 12. The Division of the Laws |
| Book III |
| 1. Government in General |
| 2. The Constituent Principle in the Various Forms of Government |
| 3. The Division of Governments |
| 4. Democracy |
| 5. Aristocracy |
| 6. Monarchy |
| 7. Mixed Governments |
| 8. That All Forms of Government Do Not Suit All Countries |
| 9. The Marks of a Good Government |
| 10. The Abuse of Government and Its Tendency to Degenerate |
| 11. The Death of the Body Politic |
| 12. How the Sovereign Authority Maintains Itself |
| 13. The Same (continued) |
| 14. The Same (continued) |
| 15. Deputies or Representatives |
| 16. That the Institution of Government is not a Contract |
| 17. The Institution of Government |
| 18. How to Check the Usurpations of Government |
| Book IV |
| 1. That the General Will is Indestructible |
| 2. Voting |
| 3. Elections |
| 4. The Roman Comitia |
| 5. The Tribunate |
| 6. The Dictatorship |
| 7. The Censorship |
| 8. Civil Religion |
| 9. Conclusion |