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James Swenson writes:

To my knowledge, the only time Rousseau actually uses "expression of the general will" is in a passage of the Discours sur l'économie politique, whose content renders it little susceptible of celebrity. [...] But it is indeed a faithful summary of his doctrine, faithful enough that commentators frequently adopt it without any hesitation. Among Rousseau's definitions of law, the textually closest variant can be found in a passage of the Lettres écrites de la montagne summarizing the argument of Du contrat social, in which law is defined as "a public and solemn declaration of the general will on an object of common interest."

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