[1] Article XIII - For the maintenance of the public force and for the expenditures of administration, a common contribution is indispensable; it must be equally distributed between all the citizens, by reason of their faculties [i.e., ability to pay].
The declaration sought to regulate the relationship between the citizen and the legitimate use of violence.
In contrast to similar declarations of rights from Anglo-Saxon countries, the emphasis is on the citizen's duty to contribute to the existence of such a force, rather than on the citizen's rights vis-a-vis such a force.
The concept was also used in other countries, e.g. in Thomas Jefferson's Sixth State of the Union Address.
The term has been used as a designation for police or military forces in other countries, e.g. Panama and Costa Rica, and is commonly used as a conceptual term in several countries, e.g. France and Morocco.