The Constitution of England,1784, Fourth edition

The Constitution of England, or an Account of the English Government; In which it is compared, both with the Republican form of Government, and the other monarchies in Europe. J.L. De Lolme, Advocate. 1784, Fourth edition, Corrected and Enlarged. Octavo, 8.5 x 5. One-quarter leather with cloth boards, rebound, five raised bands, gilt title. Frontpiece steel engraving of J.L. De Lolme.

About this book

Jean-Louis de Lolme or Delolme[1] (1740 – 16 July 1806) was a Genevan and British political theorist and writer on constitutional matters, born in the then independent Republic of Geneva. As an adult he moved to England, and became a British subject. (Wikipedia)

Jean Louis De Lolme's The Constitution of England, which first appeared in French in 1771, was a major contribution to eighteenth-century constitutional theory and enjoyed wide currency in and beyond the eras of the American and French Revolutions. Its authority and judgment were invoked in parliamentary debate and in partisan political polemic. The work influenced many of the framers of the United States Constitution including John Adams, the American revolutionary leader, constitutional advocate, and later president, who praised the work as "the best defence of the political balance of three powers that ever was written." Even De Lolme's contemporary critics were forced to acknowledge "a work which has been honored with the public approbation and which certainly possesses great merit."

De Lolme left no record concerning why he chose England as his destination. But in the major publications that quickly followed his brief career in Genevan politics, he made clear that he had come to perceive in the English constitution a unique system of government in which political liberty was sustained in a manner that sharply contrasted with the experience of other states, not least the city from which he was banished. (Online Library of Liberty)