ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the revolution which resulted in the introduction of Roman law into Germany in the fifteenth century and the revolution of the eighteenth century. The true interpretation of the French Revolution ought also to be sought in the passage from a system of duties to one of right. The revolution summoned the poor to participate in the formation of laws; it had to form a poor man's party which the bourgeois democrats confuse with the socialist party. Many socialists believe that they have not changed much and affirm that they have conserved their revolutionary ideals; they are unfortunately in good faith, their good faith being the consequence of their intellectual inferiority. In the polemics raised by the application of social laws or incidentally by philanthropic works, it is wrong so often to criticize the bourgeoisie for not doing enough for the poor; such criticism has no meaning if one does not accept the theory of social duty.
