Sovereignty's Promise

Beyond the trust, beyond the company, the most fundamental of
fiduciary relationships in our society is that which exists between the
community (the people) and the State and its agencies.… Though it had
earlier stirrings, the fiduciary principle in private law began its
uninterrupted march to prominence from the middle of the last century
[the 19th century]. And as we now well appreciate, its object was to
safeguard against the abuse of fiduciary power and position. Yet much
more so than in the private sector, it was—and is—in the realms of
government that fiduciary power is the most pervasive, the most
intense, and its abuse, the most threatening to the community and to its
trust in its institutions.’
—Paul Finn, ‘The Forgotten “Trust”: The People and the State.’2