of legal principles and methods becomes a necessity of practice instead of an intellectual luxury. Again, the historical connection between American and English law forces upon the American lawyer another set of liberalising conceptions, while the new developments of American life call for a certain amount of originality in the application of old principles and the invention of new methods. In short, an intelligent American lawyer can scarcely be a narrow-minded man; and no class could be better equipped by professional training for the political lead which it has now undoubtedly acquired. DECENTRALISATION OF PUBLIC LIFE.-While the drift of American politics has been in the direction of building up the National Government at the expense of the States, there is to be observed at the same time a very decided and general dislike to the centralisation of political influence. It shows itself in the most marked manner in the selection of the seat of the central Government. The chief city is rarely allowed to be the capital. New York City is not even the capital of its own State. The small towns and cities combine to prevent the greatness of the natural "metropolis" from being magnified by the possession of the seat of the Central Government. Neither Edinburgh nor Dublin, according to American practice, would have the smallest chance of becoming a Home Rule capital. The practice is not without its inconveniences. It is not desirable that the Supreme Court or the Legislature should be rele gated to obscure corners where the publicity of their proceedings is apt to be impaired. But the general tendency against the accumulation of power in one centre has many obvious advantages. There is no such drafting of energy and talents and influence to one head as that which in this country impoverishes the provinces without proportionally enriching the capital. There is no provincialism in the United States. No State or city has a monopoly of any kind of social or political influence. Great names, to which the whole nation defers, may be found in any country Mr. Phelps, the American Minister to this country, and Mr. Edmunds, one of the leaders of the Senate and the Supreme Court, were practising lawyers in a town less than half the size of Perth, and theirs is no exceptional case. There is no question of State patriotism in this feeling for decentralisation, but it must, nevertheless, be reckoned among the protective forces which sustain American Home Rule. town. INDEX. BANKRUPTCY laws, 67, 73. COMMERCE, regulation of, by Congress, 80. Congress, II; powers of, 12, 13; limitations on, 13, 14; payment of members, 25; members must belong to State, 26; debate Constitution of United States, 7, 11, 13, 14, 63, 68, 73. Contracts, obligation of, protected by Federal Constitution, 68, 69; Committees, system of, in Congress, 30; in State Legislatures, 57. Corporations, attacks on, 51; constitutional provisions regard- Courts-See Judiciary. DECENTRALISATION, tendency to, 127. "Due process of law," meaning of, 74. EDUCATION, provision for, in State Constitutions, 84. Executive in relation to Legislature, 27, 102, 119; in Territories, 110. FEDERALIST, 68. Field, Mr. Justice, on partial State legislation, 79. Financial questions in Congress, 45. Fourteenth Amendment, 22, 73. I "GERRYMANDERING," 23. HOAR, Senator, 35, 46. Home Rule in United States and Great Britain, difference between, JUDICIARY, Federal, 17, 61, 88; powers of, 90; distribution of, 91; Judiciary, State, 98; mode of appointment, 98; compared with Jury, trial by, 84, 35. "LAW and Order," 101. Lawyers in political life, 125. Legislatures, varieties of, 19; Federal, 11; powers of, 12, 13; limi- Legislation, local or special, forbidden, 86; no distinction between "Legal tender case," 85. Limitations, constitutional, on Congress, 13, 14; on State Legis- MARSHALL, Chief-Justice, on National and State Governments, 67. presented, 26. Militia, 102. "Monopolies," popular feeling against, 51. PARTIES in the United States, 8, 39, 40; methods of, 122. Police power belongs to the State, 84. President, the, 43, 44. "Previous Question," the, 33. Property, private, protection of, by Federal Constitution, 73; by State Constitutions, 85. RELIGION, provisions regarding, in State Constitutions, 84. Representatives, House of, 23, 28, 29. See Congress. Roosevelt, Theodore, on State Legislatures, 50; on party methods, 125. SECESSION, right of, 9. Senate, 21, 42, 43. See Congress. Speaker of the House of Representatives, 27. State and Federal Governments, 5, 117. TAXATION, State power of, 77; limited by restrictions of Federal Constitution, 78, 79. Territories, 4, 16, 22, 109. Treaties, 63, 66. UNITED STATES, political system of, contrasted with British, 1; Universities, English, constitution of, 3. VICE-PRESIDENT, the, II. WILSON, WOODROW, on Committee system in Congress, 35; on PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. EDINBURGH AND LONDON. |