From old trapping laws to boat building and crafting dog harnesses, seniors and storytellers share about life in Labrador once upon a time.

The Social Contract, Or Principles of Political Right (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, is the book in which Rousseau theorized about social contracts as the origins of political community i.e. civil society.Like John Locke, who believed that a government can only be legitimate if it has been sanctioned by the people in the role of the sovereign, Rousseau claimed that a perfect society would be controlled by the "general will" of its populace. While he does not define exactly how this shoul...

'Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.'These are the famous opening words of a treatise that has stirred vigorous debate ever since its first publication in 1762. Rejecting the view that anyone has a natural right to wield authority over others, Rousseau argues instead for a pact, or 'social contract', that should exist between all the citizens of a state and that should be the source of sovereign power. From this fundamental premise, he goes on to consider issues of l...

For the study of the great writers and thinkers of the past, historical imagination is the first necessity. Without mentally referring to the environment in which they lived, we cannot hope to penetrate below the inessential and temporary to the absolute and permanent value of their thought. Theory, no less than action, is subject to these necessities; the form in which men cast their speculations, no less than the ways in which they behave, are the result of the habits of thought and acti...

In Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Discourses on the Origin of Inequality, he outlines his own history of the development of human society. He explains in general terms how the differences between social and economic classes arose alongside the formation of modern states. He also explores the means by which these inequalities were actually built into and perpetuated by the foundational notions of modern society and government.Rather than endorse a return to the peaceful ways of pr...

With an Introduction by Derek Matravers.In The Social Contract Rousseau (1712-1778) argues for the preservation of individual freedom in political society. An individual can only be free under the law, he says, by voluntarily embracing that law as his own. Hence, being free in society requires each of us to subjugate our desires to the interests of all, the general will.Some have seen in this the promise of a free and equal relationship between soc...

This "fresh new rendition of Rousseau's major political writings is a boon for scholars and students alike"—with a critical introduction by the translator (Richard Boyd, Georgetown University).Individualist and communitarian. Anarchist and totalitarian. Progressive and reactionary. Since the eighteenth century, Jean-Jacques Rousseau has been called all of these things. Few philosophers have been the subject of such intense debate, yet almost everyone agrees that Rou...

ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Within the whole range of history there is no more momentous and puzzling problem than that connected with the fate of Roman Law after the downfall of the Roman State. How is it that a system shaped to meet certain historical conditions not only survived those conditions, hut has retained its vitality even to the present day, when political and social surroundings are entirely altered? Why is it still deemed necessary for the beginner in jurisprudence to read manuals compiled for Roman stu...

The following work may with the strictest justice be said to have done honour to human nature as well as to the great abilities of the author. The wisest and most learned man, and those most distinguished by birth and the elevation of their stations, have, in every country in Europe, considered it as a most excellent performance. And may we be permitted to add, that a sovereign prince [1] as justly celebrated for his probity and good sense, as for his political and military skill, has decl...

The Corpus Juris Civilis represents the Roman law in the form which it assumed at the close of the ancient period (a thousand years after the decemviral legislation of the Twelve Tables), and through which mainly it has acted upon modern times. It was compiled in the Eastern Roman Empire (the Western ceased in 476 a.d.), under the Emperor Justinian (controversies as to his character), who reigned 527-565 a.d.

Locke and Rousseau, if in different ways and different degrees, accepted the idea of the Social Contract: Hume, more historically minded, and more conservative in his convictions, was its critic. His sceptical intellect led him to approach political theories - the theory of divine right as well as the theory of Social Contract, but more especially the latter - with a touch of acid realism, which was mingled with a half-ironical suavity. 'There is something,' he seems to say, 'in your diffe...