This definition is worth more than all which have been given since.

I do not except even M.de Bonald's celebrated definition,--MAN IS AN INTELLECT SERVED BY ORGANS--a definition which has the double fault of explaining the known by the unknown; that is, the living being by the intellect; and of neglecting man's essential quality,--animality.
Man, then, is an animal living in society.

Society means the sum total of relationships; in short, system.

Now, all systems exist only on certain conditions.

What, then, are the conditions, the LAWS, of human society?
What are the RIGHTS of men with respect to each other; what is JUSTICE?
It amounts to nothing to say,--with the philosophers of various schools,--"It is a divine instinct, an immortal and heavenly voice, a guide given us by Nature, a light revealed unto every man on coming into the world, a law engraved upon our hearts; it is the voice of conscience, the dictum of reason, the inspiration of sentiment, the penchant of feeling; it is the love of self in others; it is enlightened self-interest; or else it is an innate idea, the imperative command of applied reason, which has its source in the concepts of pure reason; it is a passional attraction," &c., &c.