Étienne-Gabriel Morelly [SEP] place of birth
Étienne-Gabriel Morelly
Étienne-Gabriel Morelly (; 1717, Vitry-le-François – 1778) was a French utopian thinker and novelist. An otherwise "obscure tax official", Morelly wrote two books on education and a critique of Montesquieu. As well he is thought to be (perhaps erroneously) the author of "The Code of Nature," which was published anonymously in France in 1755. This book, a basis of thought for later socialist and Communist thinkers, criticized the society of his day, promoted
French utopian Étienne-Gabriel Morelly, who proposed in his 1755 "Code of Nature" "Sacred and Fundamental Laws that would tear out the roots of vice and of all the evils of a society", including:
A similar phrase can be found in the Guilford Covenant in 1639:
Scholars trace the origin of the phrase to the New Testament. In Acts of the Apostles the lifestyle of the community of believers in Jerusalem is described as communal (without individual possession), and uses the phrase ""distribution