Contrat, Social, Rousseau's theory of society that it is based on mere contract, each individual member of it surrendering his will to the will of all, under protection of all concerned, a theory which led to the conclusion that the rule of kings is an usurpation of the rights of the community, and which bore fruit as an explosive in the Revolution at the end of the century.
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Continental System * Convention, National