A Treatise of Orders and Plain Dignities

This is the first English edition of a treatise that influenced French thinkers from its publication in 1610 until the end of the ancien régime. In his Treatise of Orders and Plain Dignities, Charles Loyseau set out to harmonize with law his fellow citizens' values and behavior in the crucial sphere of possession and exercise of public power. The introduction to this edition sets this important text in the context of Loyseau's own political thesis and the intellectual milieu of those who administered early-modern France.