5
THE BATTALION.
may be said to be the operation of laws.
Law in its most comprehensive sense
according to Mr. Blackstone, “signifies a
rule of action and is applied indiscrimi
nately to all kinds of action, whether
animate or inanimate, rational or irra
tional. Thus we have the laws of mo
tion, of mechanics as well as the laws of
nations and nature. ,:l In just as general
a sense, we speak of the government of
the mind, the church, or state, as well as
the government of a nation.
In each case it is the operation of
those laws by which their action is con
trolled. In this it is only intended to
treat of government and laws as ap
plied to the government of men in their
intercourse, conduct and relations to
each other as exists in organized society.
Society cannot exist in any form with
out some form of governpient to regulate
and protect its interests. Then govern
ment in this sense means the exercise of
that power which exists in every sepa
rate organization of that kind, and
exists by nature from their own social
forces. The only just combination of
individuals for a purpose of organiza
tion is to protect and aid in improving
their own conditions without interfering
or conflicting with like privileges of
other individuals or organizations.
This combining of interests may be
known as a community, a state or a
nation, and is subject not only to its own
laws, but to moral laws, to which all
human action is subject, and which
limit natural justice. The operation of
these laws adopted by an organization is
known then as the government of that
body. The object of every government
should be to benefit every part of the
community or country that obeys the
[principles of justice, which should be at
the foundation of their law. To secure
■
a central power or governing body, the
people must surrender such * natural
rights as will well establish their form of
government.
The different forms of government
will deprive the people of different
rights according to the principles upon
which it is founded. Different forms
have always existed and seem by nature
to be necessary to meet different wants
and conditions of the people. As to
form, all governments are either rep
resentative or non representative, or
some modification of these. Examples
of the first can be found in the govern
ment of Athens and Rome and in all
our republics of modern times ; the sec
ond form will include the laws of kings
’and emperors, czars and sultans. All
governments derive their power from the
consent of the people governed. Every
well regulated government founded on
the principles of justice, consists of
three chief powers, viz : the law making,
the law interpreting and the law execut
ing. In republican forms these are
vested respectively in the legislative,
judicial and executive departments. But
where the power of a ruler is unlimited
the powers of these three departments
may be controlled by one person. Some
form of the laws of the country is nec
essary for any government where the
choice of the people is the ruling power.
For this reason we find a constitution
adopted embodying the principles of
their government and which is a stan
dard to which all the laws are referred to
decide whether they are constitutional
or unconstitutional. M.
Castles in Spain.
Of all the early imaginations in life,
nothing remains so fastened upon the