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Prince is a term that Rousseau uses—quite unconventionally—to refer to magistrates (or government administrators) as a collective. In short, the “prince” is the executive branch or the government as a whole, as contrasted with the legislature or sovereign.
Prince Quotes in The Social Contract
The The Social Contract quotes below are all either spoken by Prince or refer to Prince. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Book 2, Chapter 6
Quotes
We can no longer ask who is to make laws, because laws are acts of the general will; no longer ask if the prince is above the law, because he is a part of the state; no longer ask if the law can be unjust, because no one is unjust to himself; and no longer ask how we can be both free and subject to laws, for the laws are but registers of what we ourselves desire.
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Book 3, Chapter 18
Quotes
At the opening of these assemblies, of which the only purpose is the maintenance of the social treaty, two motions should be put, motions which may never be annulled and which must be voted separately:
The first: “Does it please the sovereign to maintain the present form of government?”
The second: “Does it please the people to leave the administration to those at present charged with it?”
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Prince Term Timeline in The Social Contract
The timeline below shows where the term Prince appears in The Social Contract. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 1, Introduction
...in people’s best interests—or, put differently, justice and utility. Rousseau admits that he is no “prince” or “legislator,” but rather merely a “citizen” trying to fulfill his responsibility to learn about...
(full context)
Book 3, Chapter 1: Of Government in General
...“government” is another word for “the legitimate exercise of executive power.” He uses the words “prince” and “magistrate” to refer to the institution that governs.
(full context)
Book 4, Chapter 8: The Civil Religion
...for “reuniting” the church and state, but concludes that Christianity’s “dominant spirit” would put the prince’s interest before the state’s. While all states have been founded on religion, Rousseau concludes, “Christian...
(full context)
