Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine derived contents note: Part I. The Prehistory of the Actual Social Contract -- -- -- 1. Where to Start? -- 2. Hebrews and the Biblical Covenants -- 3. Athens: Crito, Republic, and Politics -- 4. Romans: Cicero, Augustine, and Justinian -- -- -- Part II. Contract Begins -- -- -- 5. Feudal Oath and Consent in Person -- 6. Early Consent: The Thirteenth Century -- 7. From Consent in Person to Consent by Proxy -- -- -- Part III. The Third Principle of Consent -- -- -- 8. Modus: Consent in Parliament about 1320 -- 9. Majority Vote and Other Refinements, 1320-1600 -- 10. From Proctor to Picture -- 11. The Reformation, Hooker, and Consent by Legislators -- -- -- -- -- 12. Revolutionary Ideas of 1647 -- 13. Civil State, Political Obligation, and Representation -- -- -- Part IV. Contract Theory Before Hobbes -- -- -- 14. The Question -- 15. The Reformation, Religious Wars, and Modem Theory -- 16. Calvin, Ephors, and Resistance. -- 17. French Theory, Governmental Contract, and Junius Brutus -- 18. Brutus: Rights Inalienable by Nature -- 19. Brutus: Rights Inalienable in Practice -- 20. Buchanan and Hooker -- 21. Althusius and Grotius. -- -- -- Part V. Hobbes, Locke, and Actual Contract -- -- -- 22. Hobbes' War on Contract -- 23. Locke's Very Practical Problem -- 24. Property and Locke's Civil State of Nature -- 25. Locke's Political Society -- 26. Three Hundred Years After Locke.