Jean Louis de Lolme

Jean-Louis de Lolme (French: [ʒɑ̃ lwi də lɔlm]) or Delolme (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. His most famous work was Constitution de l'Angleterre (The Constitution of England, 1771), which was subsequently published in English as well. He advocated for the English system as an Aristotelian mixed government.

He also praised the element of representative democracy in the constitution, and urged an extension of suffrage. The work influenced many of the framers of the United States Constitution.

Early life

De Lolme was born in the then independent Republic of Geneva in 1740. He pursued legal studies and began practicing law, but had to emigrate due to a pamphlet he authored titled "Examen de trois parts de droit" (Examination of Three Parts of Rights), which offended the local authorities. He took refuge in England, where he lived for several years on the meagre and precarious income derived from occasional contributions to various journals.

Writing career

During his protracted exile in England, De Lolme made a careful study of the English constitution, the results of which he published in his Constitution de l'Angleterre (The Constitution of England, Amsterdam, 1771), of which an enlarged and improved edition in English appeared in 1775, and was several times reprinted. The work excited much interest as containing many acute observations on the causes of the excellence of the English constitution as compared with those of other countries. However, it was termed by the 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) as "wanting in breadth of view, being written before the period when constitutional questions were treated in a scientific manner".