Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/333

 CH. III.] § 325. The doctrine maintained by many eminent writers upon public law in modern times is, that civil society has its foundation in a voluntary consent or submission; and, therefore, it is often said to depend upon a social compact of the people composing the nation. And this, indeed, does not, in substance, differ from the definition of it by Cicero, Multitudo, juris consensu et utilitatis communione sociata; that is, (as Burlamaqui gives it,) a multitude of people united together by a common interest, and by common laws, to which they submit with one accord.