gress can pass no laws but such as the Constitution authorizes expressly or by clear implication."

§ 7. The United States Constitution

The Constitution of the United States is the highest authority in the United States. Next in rank come laws enacted by Congress in pursuance of the powers enumerated in the Constitution. For example, Congress has power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, and under this authority it has passed the "Anti-Trust Law." On the other hand, the Constitution does not grant Congress any legislative power in regard to marriage and divorce, and for this reason Congress is not authorized to enact a federal law regulating divorces, however desirable such a uniform law might be. Under the present Constitution this matter is left to the discretion of the separate states, and divorce laws change as state lines are crossed.

At the time of the adoption of the Federal Constitution the representatives of the separate states were every whit as jealous of the rights of the states as we as a nation were jealous of the rights of the United States in the matter of the League of Nations. They clung to the sovereign rights of states and feared, worse than men ever feared war and pestilence, the sinking of the state in the nation. There is an extremely interesting parallelism between the arguments advanced against the adoption of the National Constitution by the states and those advanced against the adoption of the international constitution by the nation. The National Constitution as adopted was a compromise whose makers held that the powers of the United States as a nation were to be limited, so as to leave to the separate states the maximum of sovereignty. Their purpose in drafting the Constitution was to define these limits to national supremacy with exactitude and carefully to mark out the powers of Congress beyond which it could not

go. Fortunately, grants of power as expressed in the Constitution were couched in general language, and in interpreting their meaning the Supreme Court of the United States has, in many instances, placed a liberal construction upon them, so that Congress today is a far more powerful body than it otherwise would have been. For example, at the time the Constitution was adopted no one dreamed of the enormous power granted to Congress in the right "to regulate commerce between the states." The commerce between the states at the time the Constitution was adopted was of little significance and the power to regulate was of small moment. With the vast extension of our interstate commerce, however, the congressional power of regulation has grown to tremendous proportions. The recent decision of the Court in regard to the constitutionality of the Adamson railroad wage law would seem to extend this power almost without limit. The great war necessitated federal control of the railroads. Even though the roads are returned to their corporate owners, it is likely that there will be an increased supervision by the central government that will vastly and permanently expand the authority of the Federal Government.

The wonderful thing about the Constitution of the United States is that though it was devised over a century and a quarter ago, and though the changes in our country and in its modes of life, in its social relations, and in its methods of business have been tremendous, the old Constitution, with but few changes, still serves as the fundamental law of the land and chafes in but few places. Well did Bryce in his "American Commonwealth" say of it:

The Constitution of 1789 . . . . after all deductions ranks above every other written constitution for the intrinsic excellence of its scheme, its adaptation to the circumstances of the people, the simplicity, brevity, and precision of its language, its judicious mixture of definiteness in principle with elasticity in detail.

§ 8. Laws of Congress

The legislative power of Congress is limited to specific objects enumerated in the Constitution. Congress has the power to "regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes," but has no power to pass any laws affecting a railway or any kind of traffic which operates entirely within a single state. On the other hand, Congress is authorized to "coin money, regulate the value thereof and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures"; this power gives us a system of coinage and of weights and measures which is uniform for the entire country. If ever we adopt the metric system it will be through the action of Congress, under this constitutional grant of power.

Whenever Congress acts under a constitutional grant of power, the states are excluded from legislation on that subject. For instance, Congress has power to pass "uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcy," and when the present bankruptcy law was passed in 1898 it at once nullified all the existing state laws on the subject of insolvency. Laws passed by Congress in pursuance of its constitutional powers are superior to state constitutions and state laws.

§ 9. State Constitutions

At the time of the adoption of the National Constitution, each of the thirteen original states was exercising the powers of government under some form of written constitution. These instruments remained in effect, except in those particulars which were overruled by the Constitution of the United States. The newer states have adopted constitutions, and before the states were admitted it was necessary for Congress to accept the proposed constitutions. But within the limits of each particular state the state constitution is supreme. The

state legislature cannot enact a law which goes counter to any of the provisions of the state constitution.

§ 10. Constitutional Amendments

It was intended by those who framed our system of government that amendment of the Constitution of the United States should be both difficult and slow. They did not intend that a majority of the voters should at any time amend the Constitution. They did not have such entire confidence in the wisdom of the common people as to be willing to empower a bare majority of the voters to set aside the constitutional provisions they had so carefully devised. So they provided that no amendment should be valid as a part of the Constitution unless it were first proposed by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress and afterwards ratified by three-fourths of the several states. As it was purposely made difficult to amend the United States Constitution, so most of the states have likewise made it more or less difficult to amend or to change their constitutions. In some states a convention for the special purpose of revising the constitution is called at stated periods; others leave to the legislature the calling of the conventions, while the usual plan is for the legislature to submit separate amendments to the people from time to time.

§ 11. Constitutions That Legislate

Constitutions are intended to be permanent, and therefore should lay down only broad principles. They should not be encumbered with legislation on any subject on which the policy or the best interests of the people are likely to change. The pressure for change has been quite as strong as the framers of the constitution foresaw.

At the present time many persons desiring to introduce reforms and to secure liberal legislation fret at the delays and the difficulties of overcoming constitutional impediments, and

hence advocate making our constitutions, both federal and state, easier of amendment and less restrictive in their provisions. There is such a distrust today, moreover, of the wisdom of legislatures that in many of the newer state constitutions provisions have been incorporated that should have been left for legislative action. For example, the Constitution of Oklahoma provides that eight hours shall constitute a day's work throughout the state; that railways shall not charge passengers more than two cents per mile, while the corporation. commission may exempt any railway in case its earnings are so low as to justify a higher rate; that railways shall have adequate, comfortable, and clean stations, etc. By incorporating such detailed legislation in a state constitution, its function, which is to provide fundamental and basic law, is confused with that of the legislature, which is to provide laws for such specific subjects as hours of labor, rates of fare, and all sanitary details.

§ 12. Legislative Enactments

Next in dignity and authority to the state constitutions come the laws or acts of the separate state legislatures so far as they conform to the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the particular state. These are known as statutes and are of authority in the state where they are enacted. Below them in dignity come the ordinances or laws of boards of aldermen and common councils in towns and cities. The law from all of these different sources-constitutions, laws of Congress, laws of legislatures, and ordinances of municipal governments—may be said to make up the body of what is called the "written law," in contradistinction to what we call the "unwritten law" which is discussed in the next chapter.