Laws, in the broadest sense, are the necessary relations which derive from the nature of things ; and in this sense all beings have their laws : the deity has its laws, the material world has its laws, intelligences higher than man have their laws, beasts have their laws, man has his laws. (…)

Before all these laws are those of nature, so called because they derive solely from the constitution of our being. To understand them well, we must consider a man before the establishment of societies. The laws of nature will be those he would receive in such a state.
That law which, by (…)

As soon as men are in society, they lose the sense of their weakness ; the equality that was among them ceases, and the state of war begins.
Every separate society comes to feel its strength, which results in a state of war nation to nation. Individuals in each society begin to feel their (…)