Elements of Civil Government Part 2

10. Why should the teacher pa.s.s an examination?

11. Should he be examined every year?

12. Why does the law place the teacher in the parent's place?

13. Why are citizens said to be rulers?

QUESTION FOR DEBATE.

_Resolved_, That it is right for a man without children to pay school taxes.

CHAPTER III.

THE CIVIL DISTRICT.

INTRODUCTORY.--In our study, thus far, we have had to do with special forms of government as exercised in the family and in the school.

These are, in a sense, peculiar to themselves. The rights of government as administered in the family, and the rights of the members of a family, as well as their duties to each other, are natural rights and duties; they do not depend upon society for their force. In fact, they are stronger and more binding in proportion as the bands of society are relaxed.

In the primitive state, before there was organized civil society, family government was supreme; and likewise, if a family should remove from within the limits of civil society and be entirely isolated, family government would again resume its power and binding force.

School government, while partaking of the nature of civil government, is still more closely allied to family government. In the natural state, and in the isolated household, the education of the child devolves upon the parents, and the parent delegates a part of his natural rights and duties to the teacher when he commits the education of his child to the common school. The teacher is said to stand _in loco parentis_ (in the place of the parent), and from this direction, mainly, are his rights of government derived. The school, therefore, stands in an intermediate position between family government and civil government proper, partaking of some features of each, and forming a sort of stepping-stone for the child from the natural restraints of home to the more complex demands of civil society. The school district, also, while partaking of the nature of a civil inst.i.tution, is in many respects to be regarded as a co-operative organization of the families of the neighborhood for the education of their children, and its government as a co-operative family government.

THE CIVIL UNIT DEFINED.

In nearly every part of the United States there is a unit of civil society in which the people exercise many of the powers of government at first hand. This civil unit is variously named in the different States, and its first organization may have been for some minor purpose; but it has grown to be an important sphere of government in many States, and throughout the entire country it is the primary school of the citizen and the voter.

There are many different names by which this civil unit is known.

In the State of Mississippi it is called the _Beat_, and this name is no doubt derived from the original purpose of the organization, as the jurisdiction of a watchman or constable.

In Delaware it is called the _Hundred_, which is the old English subdivision of a county, supposed to contain one hundred families, or one hundred men able to bear arms in the public service.

In the New England States, in New York, and in Wisconsin it is called the _Town_, from the old Anglo-Saxon civil unit, which antedates the settlement of England by its Saxon invaders, and is probably older than the Christian era.

In Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, the Carolinas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and parts of Illinois, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, it is called the _Towns.h.i.+p_, only a variation of name from the "town," and having the same origin.

In California it is called the _Judicial Towns.h.i.+p_, and in parts of the Dakotas it is called the _School Towns.h.i.+p_.

In Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Was.h.i.+ngton, and parts of Illinois and Nebraska, it is called the _Election Precinct_, from the fact that it was the subdivision made for the convenience of voters.

In Georgia it is called the _Militia District_, from the fact that each subdivision furnished a certain proportionate number of men for the militia service of the State.

In Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia, it is called the _Magisterial District_, from the fact that it was const.i.tuted as the limit of the jurisdiction of a local magistrate.

In Louisiana it is called the _Police Jury Ward_, perhaps for the reason that from each one of these subdivisions a warden was elected to administer the parish government.

In Maryland and Wyoming it is called the _Election District_, from the fact that it was the subdivision made for the convenience of voters.

In Tennessee it is called the _Civil District_--probably, next to "town" or "towns.h.i.+p," the most fitting name for the smallest subdivision of civil government.

In Texas it is called the _Justice's Precinct_, as being the limit of a justice's jurisdiction.

In some of the New England States, also, districts which have not the entire town organization are provisionally called _Plantations_ or _Grants_, being subject to the administration, in some local affairs, of other towns.

But under whatever name the civil unit may exist, it is the primary seat of government. In many cases the original reason for the name has disappeared, while the character of the government has greatly changed, and been modified and developed from the first crude forms.

THREE GENERAL CLa.s.sES.--As a result, there are at present but three general cla.s.ses into which we need subdivide the civil unit in the various States: these are the _Civil District_, which would include the "Beat," "Hundred," "Election Precinct," "Militia District," and numerous other cla.s.ses, embracing about one half the States of the Union; the _Town_, which has its fullest development in the New England States; and the _Towns.h.i.+p_, which in some States has nearly the full development of a New England town, while in other States it has a looser organisation, approximating the civil district of the Southern and Southwestern States.

THE CIVIL DISTRICT, PROPER.

We shall treat of the various forms of the civil unit which we have cla.s.sed under the general name of civil district before we speak of the town and the towns.h.i.+p, because they are simpler and much less developed, and therefore naturally const.i.tute the simplest form of the civil unit.

NUMBER, SIZE.--In number and size, civil districts vary widely in different States and in different counties of the same State. There are rarely less than five or more than twelve districts to the county.

PURPOSES.--The division of the county into districts, each with its own court of law, brings justice to the people's doors. It secures officers to every part of the county, thus affording better means for the punishment of crimes. It provides a speedy trial for minor offences and minor suits. It aids the higher courts by relieving them of a mult.i.tude of small cases. As each district has one or more polling-places, it secures convenience to the electors in casting their votes.

GOVERNMENT.--The functions of the civil district arc judicial and executive, and lie within a narrow range. Its government possesses no legislative or corporate power whatever; it can not make a single law, however unimportant. Within a narrow jurisdiction or sphere, it applies the law to particular cases, and this is the chief purpose for its existence. Whenever the civil unit possesses more powers than are herein set forth, it is more properly described under the towns.h.i.+p in the next chapter, no matter what name it may go by locally.

CITIZENS.

The citizens of the civil district are the people residing within it.

It exists for their benefit, that they may be secure in life, liberty, and property. In a certain sense they const.i.tute the district, since its government concerns them directly, and others only remotely.

RIGHTS.--All citizens have a right to the full and equal protection of the laws. Each has a right to be secure in his person and property; to demand that the peace be preserved; to do all things according to his own will, provided he does not trespa.s.s upon the rights of others. No one in the family, in the school, in the civil district, in the county, in the State, or in the nation, has the right to do or say any thing which interferes with the life, liberty, property, or happiness of another. Any act which interferes with the rights of others is an offence against the common good and against the law. It is chiefly for the prevention and punishment of these unlawful acts that the civil district exists, with its court and its officers.

All legal voters of the district have the right to partic.i.p.ate in its government by exercising a free choice in the selection of its officers, except in States where these officers are appointed. They have the right to cast their votes without fear or favor. This is one of the most important and sacred rights that freemen possess. Free government can not exist without it. The law guarantees it, and all the power of the State may be employed to maintain it. Therefore, whoever prevents a voter from exercising the right of suffrage does it at his own peril.

DUTIES.--As the citizens of the civil district have rights, they also have corresponding duties. As they may demand protection and the preservation of the peace, so it is their duty to obey the law and a.s.sist the officers in its enforcement, in order that the same protection may be extended to the whole people. Each should abstain from acts that injure others, and render cheerful aid to all in securing their rights through the law.

All qualified voters have the right, and it is also their duty, to vote. The voters elect the officers of the district, and are therefore its rulers. When they fail to vote, they fail to rule--fail in their duty to the people and to themselves. The duty to vote implies the duty to vote right, to vote for good men and for good measures.

Therefore, citizens should study their duty as voters, that they may elect honest, capable, faithful officers, and support the parties and principles that will best promote the good of the country? Every one should study his political duty with the best light that he can obtain, decide what is right, and then vote his sentiments honestly and fearlessly. If the district has good government, the voters deserve the credit; if it has bad government, the voters deserve the blame.

OFFICERS.

The officers of the district are the justices of the peace and the constable. In some States there is only one justice to each district, in other States there are two, and in others there are three.