There is but one just and sound society, the
one founded on the "contrat-social," and
"the clauses of this contract, fully understood, reduce themselves to
one, the total transfer of each individual, with all his rights, to
the community, . . . . each surrendering himself up absolutely,
just as he actually stands, he and all his forces, of which the
property he possesses forms a part."[1]
There must be no exception or reservation. Nothing of what he
previously was, or had, now belongs to him in his own right;
henceforth, what he is, or has, devolves upon him only through
delegation. His property and his person now form a portion of the
commonwealth. If he is in possession of these, his ownership is at
second hand; if he derives any benefit there from, it is as a
concession. He is their depository, trustee and administrator, and
nothing more.[2] In other words, with respect to these he is simply a
managing director, that is to say a functionary like others, with a
precarious appointment and always revocable by the State which has
appointed him.
"As nature gives to every man absolute power over the members of his
body the social pact gives the social body absolute power over all its
members.
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