In Hobbes, in fact, the ruler has no means of breaking the contract with his subjects because he has not made one; and the corollary to this is that the subject, even if he rebels against his ruler, does not thereby break a contract concluded with him, but only the contract he has entered with all other members of the society, to the effect of letting themselves be governed by this ruler.

DEFINE: Clarifies the structure of Hobbes's social contract: it is solely between subjects, with the ruler as an outside party, not a signatory.

Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simm…, loc. 5036