The third epoch can be distinguished from the second inasmuch as it
is no longer a real common will that acts, but a representative common will.
It has two ineffaceable characteristics and these need to be repeated.
Firstly, that will, as expressed by the body of representatives, is neither
complete nor unlimited; it is no more than a portion of the great common
national will. Secondly, those delegated to exercise that will do not
do so as a right that is their own, but as a right exercised on others’ behalf.
The common will is exercised as a delegation or trust.
Here, in order to get to the end, we have to set aside a mass of further
considerations to which, quite naturally, this presentation might lead.
What matters now is to know what should be understood by the political
constitution of a society and how to identify its just relationship to the nation
itself.