Thus, the triadic relationship of genuine representation was reduced to a
dyadic relationship of spurious representation, which together with plena
potestas and plenitudo potestatis is a characteristic of absolutism: A represents
B before A himself. As we have seen, the Hobbesian theory implied that the
king himself represents the subjects before the king. The corruption of the
constitutional idea and its implementation in the European States similarly
implied that the Representatives of the People represent the people before the
Representatives of the People. Hence, Rousseau’s famous jibe against
‘English liberty’. Indeed, in its dyadic form, ‘representation of A by B’
merely is a euphemism for ‘B rules A’.