"Magistratibus igitur opus est; sine quorum prudentiâ ac diligentiâ esse civitas non potest; CICERO DE LEG. lib. 3. cap. 2. "Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants." VOLUME II. BOSTON: HILLIARD, GRAY, AND COMPANY. CAMBRIDGE: BROWN, SHATTUCK, AND CO. 1833. BURKE. 6392.21 U.S.339.1 B. Entered according to the act of Congress in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, by JOSEPH STORY, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. CAMBRIDGE: E. W. METCALF AND COMPANY, Printers to the University. COMMENTARIES. Book II. CHAPTER VII. DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS. § 517. In surveying the general structure of the constitution of the United States, we are naturally led to an examination of the fundamental principles, on which it is organized, for the purpose of carrying into effect the objects disclosed in the preamble. Every government must include within its scope, at least if it is to possess suitable stability and energy, the exercise of the three great powers, upon which all governments are supposed to rest, viz. the executive, the legislative, and the judicial powers. The manner and extent, in which these powers are to be exercised, and the functionaries, in whom they are to be vested, constitute the great distinctions, which are known in the forms of government. In absolute governments the whole executive, legislative, and judicial powers are, at least in their final result, exclusively confined to a single individual; and such a form of government is denominated a despotism, as the whole sovereignty of the state is vested in him. If the same powers are exclusively confided to a few persons, constituting a permanent sovereign council, the government may be appropriately denominated an absolute or despotic Aristocracy. If |