Law

Good law is reason free of passion: the rule of intelligence embodied in the polity.

The rule of law is better than the rule of any individual, even the wisest ruler.

Four kinds of law (eternal, natural, divine, human) form a single hierarchical order.

Law is the sovereign's command. Its authority derives from power, not reason.

Legitimate law must conform to natural law and express the consent of the governed.

Laws must suit the spirit, climate, and character of a people. Liberty requires separation of powers.

Legitimate law is the act by which the people give themselves a rule: the expression of the general will.

Public right is the universal law of freedom: conditions under which external wills can coexist.

Law is the actualization of freedom: rational will made objective in the institutions of the state.

Law is not the realization of reason but the instrument of class rule masked as universality.