1. In as much as order is a species of dignity the third estate of France is not properly an order: for, as it embraces all the rest of the people, apart from churchmen and nobles, all the people of France would have to be in dignity. But in as much as order signifies a condition or occupation or else a distinct species of persons, the third estate is one of the three orders or estates general of France.

2. Nevertheless, in ancient Gaul no account was taken of it, nor was it held in any respect or regard. So Caesar says:

3. M. Pasquier observes very pertinently that in the first two dynasties of our kings there was no mention of the third estate, and that the common people were not summoned at all to the general assemblies convened for the state's constitutional affairs.

4. At those assemblies, which were then called parlements and are now called estates-general, there were only prelates and barons: that is, the principal members of the clergy and the nobility. Hence our courts of parlement are at present composed of clerics and laymen who were formerly nobles and men of the sword, as the old books testify.