1. Introduction -- 2. The Individual -- 3. The State -- 4. Population -- 5. The Enquirer -- 6. The Continuing Debate -- 7. Malthus’ Essay -- 8. Godwin’s Thoughts -- 9. Of Population -- 10. The Westminster Review. 11. Conclusion.

Social contract theory is incoherent and it does not work as desired. Among the most obvious disanalogies is that contracts are enforced by a third party, commonly the state. There is no such external enforcer for a constitution. Contractarian theorists typically ignore all such issues and use...