Note 65 — Chapter IV · INTERPRETATION OF THE LAWS.
Reading edition
If every individual is bound to society, society is no less bound to every individual by a contract which is necessarily obligatory on both sides. This obligation, which descends from the throne to the cabin, which binds equally the greatest and most miserable of men, means nothing but that it is the interest of all men that covenants advantageous to the greater number should be observed.
The word ‘obligation’ is one of those which are much more frequent in ethics than in any other science, and which are the abbreviated symbol of a train of reasoning rather than of a single idea. Seek for an idea corresponding to the word ‘obligation’ and you will seek in vain; reason about it, and you will both understand yourself and be understood by others.