ample. As we have seen (185), in some countries, the Father has exercised a power of Life and Death over the Son. We may, in such a case, conceive the Father laying down Rules for the conduct of the Family, and enforcing them by any penalties which he may appoint. When the Children of such a Family grow up, and when they themselves marry and have children, we may still conceive the habit of obedience to the Head of the Family to remain. As the Family extends, it becomes a Family in a wider sense; a House, a Tribe, a Clan, a Nation; but it may still continue to recognize a Supreme Right to obedience in the common parent. Such is a Patriarchal Government. The Right of Government is here vested entirely in the Patriarch. The other members of the Community have only the Obligation of Obedience towards him. a 208. The Patriarchal Government is naturally broken up by the death of the Patriarch. We may suppose Patriarchal Government to be continued generation after generation, by some agreement in the Family, as to who is to inherit the Patriarchal Authority: but such a government, though it may exist as an Institution, is no longer the natural result of the Family habits of affection and obedience. To obey a brother, a nephew, or a remoter relative, is not a natural, necessary, and universal rule. The Patriarchal Form of Society being broken up, the mixtures of Families, their migrations and various fortunes, still further loosen and destroy the bonds of Patriarchal Government, and form men into Nations, according to various conditions of race, dwelling-place, and history. The National Government then takes place of the Patriarchal. 209. The person or persons in whom the Supreme Authority in each nation resides, are determined in every case by the History of the nation (97). The whole past History of each nation has terminated in the Fact of its present Government. In the Course of History, the Governing Authorities of Nations have passed into various hands, have been variously distributed, and have assumed many various forms. Nations which were formerly separate, are now united under the same Supreme Authority: Nations which were formerly united as one, have now separate governments: the Lines of Succession of Governors, the modes of appointing them, the way of their exercising their authority in each nation, have changed. The Laws by which they govern have also changed. But in every Nation, so far as it is subjected to Rules of Action; so far as its members really possess Rights and Obligations; there is some Supreme Authority, in which the Rights of Government are vested. 210. The Supreme Authority may reside in one Person, or in many. It may be exercised by one Person, under conditions depending upon the consent and cooperation of others. In almost all nations, there is a Difference of Ranks, connected with the conditions of the exercise of the Supreme Power. Besides the highest Governor, (King, Consul, President, or in whatever other name he governs,) there are Nobles, Senators, Lords, Citizens, Aliens, often Slaves. Some of these Ranks have Authority, which, like that of the highest Governor, is the result of the History of the Nation. They have Rights with reference to each other, determined by Laws and Customs, traditionally received, or historically instituted. The structure of a Society considered with regard to this Difference of Ranks, is its Political Structure. The Laws and Customs which determine the Rights of different Ranks, aud their share in the Supreme Authority, are the Constitution of the Nation. In every Constitution, the Supreme Authority is termed also the Sovereign Power. As the Constitution places the Sovereign power in the hands of One, or of a few men of Rank, or of the General Body of the Citizens, the State is a Monarchy, an Aristocracy, or a Democracy. These are the Simple Forms of Government. The Sovereign Power executes the existing Laws, and on all occasions, both in reference to the citizens within the State, and to persons and states without, acts for the State. These are the Executive Functions of the Government. 211. It is the existence of a Supreme Authority, or Government, which gives reality to the other Rights;the Rights of the Person, of Property, of Contract, of Marriage. The Government acts as the State (94), and carries into effect the Laws by which Rights and Obligations are defined. The Government also, by means of its tribunals and Judges (94), decides disputed questions which arise among its citizens concerning their Rights and Obligations. These are the Judicial Functions of the Government. But the Definitions of Rights and Obligations, though given by the Law of each nation, are not arbitrary and capricious (105). They are intended in all nations to be right; that is, conformable to the Supreme Rule of Human action. They are intended to be just, that is, conformable to the Moral Idea of Justice, as well as to the actual Fact of Law. Such Moral Ideas will be the subject of our consideration hereafter. 212. Offenses against the Rights of Government are Rebellion, when subjects openly and by force resist the Governors: Treason, when by combination and contrivance they seek to dispossess them: Sedition, when they attempt to transfer some of the functions of Government from the Governors to other hands. In many free states, where the citizens have a considerable share in the government, they are divided into Parties, which act upon opposite or different maxims in the administration of the State. When a Party acts not for the good of the State, but for its own advantage as a Party, it is a Faction. 213. Since, in all Nations, the Definitions of Rights and Obligations are intended to be right and just, it is natural that there should be much that is common in the views and determinations of all nations on these subjects. That which is common in the determinations of all Nations respecting Rights and Obligations, is called Jus Naturæ, or Jus Gentium. That which is peculiar in the Law of a particular State or City, is called Jus Civile, or Jus Municipale. We may distinguish these two kinds of Jus as Natural Jus and National Jus. Jus Civile, Civil Law, is often used to denote Jus Civile Romanorum, the Roman Law. 214. Nations or States are, for the most part, independent bodies, with no common authority to which they can refer. Each is a Sovereign State, acknowledging no Superior. Hence there is no Authority which can define or enforce their Rights which they claim against each other. But the general rules and analogies of Natural Jus (212) lead to determinations of the Rights and Obligations of Nations, which form a body of acknowledged Law. This body of Law is Jus inter Gentes, and may be termed International Jus. 215. Though the existing Government in each Nation is a Fact, the result of preceding historical Facts (209), it is not merely a Fact. Governments for the most part claim to exist by Justice, as well as by Power. They recognize the Rules of National Jus and International Jus of which we have spoken; and assert themselves to be Governments de jure as well as de facto. Moral Ideas, and the Sentiments combined with them, have great force among the springs of action (56); and thus the opinion, generally prevalent, that any person or body of persons does or does not possess the Government of a Nation de jure, will very materially effect the support and obedience which men will render to it, and will thus determine the historical fact of its standing or falling. The existing Government is a Fact; but it is a Fact the previously operating Idea of Justice. on the general opinion of its Authority. make Right; the opinion of Right makes Might; and the Might thus generated determines all subordinate questions of Right. determined by Its power rests 216. Although we at first, while treating of Jus, consider the Laws of each State as absolutely fixed and given (105), yet Laws are intended, as we have said (211), to be just. Hence the State has, for one of its offices, to remove out of the Laws all that is unjust, so as to make them more and more just. That part of the Governing Body which is by the Constitution (210) thus invested with Authority to make and alter Laws, is the Legislative Body, or Legislature. The Executive and Judicial branches of Government, of which we have already spoken (210, 211), and the Legislative Branch now spoken of, form the three great Members of every Constitution. 217. It will be our business hereafter to consider the Moral Idea of Justice, and its consequences; but we may already easily discern cases in which the general analogy of Natural Jus would lead to a modification of Laws. If, for instance, one Nation have made war upon another, invaded the Country, and reduced the inhabitants to slavery: (as in ancient times was the Rule of International Jus;) when the conquered inhabitants have lived as slaves for many generations, it would be agreeable to National Jus to annul the Laws which keep the slaves in bondage (this being done, of course, by the proper legislative authority). For the ancient conquest, in which the condition of the |