GOVERNMENT:
Natural and political law. The manner in which sovereignty is exercised in each state.
2.
There are three simple forms of government, the democratic, the
aristocratic, and monarchical. But these three simple forms may be
varied to infinity by the mixture and divisions of their different
powers. Sometimes by the word government is understood the body of men,
or the individual in the state, to whom is entrusted the executive
power. It is taken in this sense when the government is spoken of in
opposition to other bodies in the state.
3.
Governments are also divided into monarchical and republican; among the
monarchical states may be classed empires, kingdoms, and others; in
these the sovereignty resides in, a single individual. There are some
monarchical states under the name of duchies, counties, and the like.
Republican states are those where the sovereignty is in several persons.
These are subdivided into aristocracies, where the power is exercised
by a few persons of the first rank in the state; and democracies, which
are those governments where the common people may exercise the highest
powers. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 20. See Aristocracy; Democracy; Despotism;
Monarchy; Theocracy.
4.
It should be remembered, however, that governments, for the most part,
have not been framed on models. Their parts and their powers grew out of
occasional acts, prompted by some urgent expediency, or some private
interest, which, in the course of time, coalesced and hardened into
usages. These usages became the object of respect and the guide of
conduct long before they were embodied in written laws. This subject is
philosophically treated by Sir James McIntosh, in his History of
England. See vol. 1, p. 71, et seq.
GOVERNOR.
The title of the executive magistrate in each state and territory of
the United States. Under the names of the particular states, the reader
will find some of the duties of the governor of such state.
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