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A Government of Men: Presidential Address, The Ninth Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, December 28, 1912

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Albert Bushnell Hart
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Extract

“In the government of this commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them: the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them: the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them: to the end, it may be a government of laws, and not of men.”

So runs the thirtieth article of the constitution adopted by the people of Massachusetts in their town meetings in the year 1780; and still a part of the fundamental law of this Commonwealth. The fine and sonorous phrase states two important principles: that in every proper government there should be three balanced departments; and that a government of laws must control not only the people but those charged with government—that is, that the rule is stronger than the rulers.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , February 1913 , pp. 1 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1913

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