Contrat Social

Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 3: Catarrh to Dion, p. 446

Contrat Social ('Social Contract') is the name of a famous work (1762) by J. J. Rousseau, and of the theory maintained in it that government is based on the consent, direct or implied, of the governed. See ROUSSEAU, SOPHISTS.

Source scan(s): p. 0457