Full Idea
Rousseau assumes that there should already be bonds of custom and tradition uniting a people before it is fit to receive laws.
Gist of Idea
Rousseau assumes that laws need a people united by custom and tradition
Source
report of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The Social Contract (tr Cress) [1762]) by Jonathan Wolff - An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Rev) 3 'Rousseau'
Book Reference
Wolff,Jonathan: 'An Introduction to Political Philosophy (Rev)' [OUP 2006], p.83
A Reaction
In unusual circumstances, such as the arrival of a large population at a new colony, it might be that the laws would create the missing customs and traditions.