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strained to obey the laws. The system obtains from one end of the Union to the other. The power of punishing the misconduct of public officers, or of performing the part of the executive, in urgent cases, has not, however, been bestowed on the same judges in all the states. The Anglo-Americans derived the institution of justices of the peace from a common source; but although it exists in all the states, it is not always turned to the same use. The justices of the peace everywhere participate in the administration of the townships and the counties,[1] either as public officers or as the judges of public misdemeanors, but in most of the states the more important classes of public offences come under the cognizance of the ordinary tribunals.
The election of public officers, or the inalienability of their functions, the absence of a gradation of powers, and the introduction of a judicial control over the secondary branches of the administration, are the universal characteristics of the American system from Maine to the Floridas. In some states (and that of New York has advanced most in this direction) traces of a centralized administration begin to be discernible. In the state of New York the officers of the central government exercise, in certain cases, a sort of inspection or control over the secondary bodies.[2] At other times they constitute a court of appeal for the decision of affairs.[3]
- ↑ In some of the southern states the county-courts are charged with all the details of the administration. See the Statutes of the State of Tennessee, arts. Judiciary, Taxes, &c.
- ↑
For instance, the direction of public instruction centres in the hands of the government.
The legislature names the members of the university, who are denominated
regents; the governor and lieutenant-governor of the state are necessarily of the
number. Revised Statutes, vol. i., p. 455. The regents of the university annually
visit the colleges and academies, and make their report to the legislature. Their
superintendence is not inefficient, for several reasons: the colleges in order to become
corporations stand in need of a charter, which is only granted on the recommendation
of the regents: every year funds are distributed by the state for the encouragement
of learning, and the regents are the distributors of this money. See chap. xv.,
“Public Instruction,” Revised Statutes, vol. i., p. 455.
The school commissioners are obliged to send an annual report to the superintendent of the state. Idem, p. 448.
A similar report is annually made to the same person on the number and condition of the poor. Idem, p. 631.
- ↑
If any one conceives himself to be wronged by the school commissioners (who
are town-officers), he can appeal to the superintendent of the primary schools, whose
decision is final. Revised Statutes, vol. i., p. 487.
Provisions similar to those above cited are to be met with from time to time in the laws of the state of New York: but in general these attempts at centralization are weak and unproductive. The great authorities of the state have the right of watching
