Jean-Louis de Lolme

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Jean-Louis de Lolme (1741 - 1804) was a Swiss and English political theorist, born in the then semi-independent city of Geneva. As an adult he moved to England, and became a British subject.

His most famous work is the Constitution de l'Angleterre (The Constitution of England, 1775). In it, he advocated a constitutional form of government fashioned after the government of Great Britain of the time, and which in addition included some elements of representative democracy with extended suffrage. His political thinking was developed to a large extent in opposition to the more radical theory of direct democracy advocated by his compatriot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whom de Lolme accused of being unrealistic. He was also influenced by the political theorising of John Locke and the baron de Montesquieu. De Lolme is frequently named as a probable candidate for being the person behind the pseudonymous political commentator Junius.

De Lolme was an influence on some of the framers of the American constitution, particularly John Adams' Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States, as well as the Constitution of Norway.