Government (redirected from Gov't.)

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.