Jean-Louis de Lolme (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ lwi də lɔlm]) or Delolme [1] (1740 – 16 July 1806) was a Genevan and British political theorist and writer on constitutional matters, born in the then independent Republic of Geneva.
[2] However, it was termed by the 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) as "wanting in breadth of view, being written before the period when constitutional questions were treated in a scientific manner".
De Lolme developed and refined his political thinking to a large extent in opposition to the more radical theory of direct democracy advocated by his compatriot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whom he accused of being unrealistic.
[2] In 1775, de Lolme found himself compelled to accept aid from a charitable society to enable him to return home.
[2] The work has been studied by French bourgeois revolutionary Madame Roland at the age of 22 and influenced many of the framers of the United States Constitution.