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Constitution

Every state has a constitution, since every state functions on the basis of certain rules and principles. It has often been asserted that the United States has a written constitution but that the constitution of Great Britain is unwritten. This is true, but only in the sense that in the United States there is a formal document called the Constitution, whereas there is no such document in Great Britain. In fact, however, many parts of the British constitution exist in written form, whereas important aspects of the American constitution are wholly unwritten. The British constitution includes the Bill of Rights (1689), the Act of Settlement (1700-01), the Parliament Act of 1911, the successive Representation of the People acts (which extended the suffrage), the statutes dealing with the structure of the courts, the various local government acts, and many others. These are not ordinary statutes, even though they were adopted in the ordinary legislative way, and they are not codified within the structure of a single orderly document. On the other hand, such institutions in the United States as the presidential cabinet and the system of political parties, though not even mentioned in the written constitution, are most certainly of constitutional significance.

Constitution is the body of doctrines and practices that form the fundamental organizing principle of a political state. In some cases, such as the United States, the constitution is a specific written document; in others, such as the United Kingdom, it is a collection of documents, statutes, and traditional practices that are generally accepted as governing political matters. States that have a written constitution may also have a body of traditional or customary practices that may or may not be considered to be of constitutional standing. Virtually every state claims to have a constitution, but not every government conducts itself in a consistently constitutional manner.

The general idea of a constitution and of constitutionalism originated with the ancient Greeks and especially in the systematic, theoretical, normative, anddescriptive writings of Aristotle. Every state has a constitution, no matter how badlyor erratically governed it may be.

Justice

The English have given the world, notably North America and much of the Commonwealth, the system of English law that has acquired a status and universality to match Roman law. This, too, had its origins in Anglo-Saxon times, and two of its hallmarks are its preference for customary law (the common law) rather than statute law and its system of application by locally appointed part-time magistrates, by locally chosen juries, and by the travelling judges going from one county town to another on circuit. Under the Normans, the Anglo-Saxon system was retained but formalised; for example, by the recording of case law to provide uniform precedents, which began in the 13th century. In modern times there has been a greater reliance upon the statute law contained in some 3, 000 acts of Parliament, but there are more than 300, 000 recorded cases to turn to for precedent. Other aspects of the English law are the fundamental assumption that an accused person is deemed innocent until proved guilty and the independence of the judiciary from intervention by crown or government in the judicial process.

The legal system is divided into civil and criminal courts. The House of Lords is the ultimate court of appeal for both civil and criminal cases brought through the High Court or the Court of Appeal. In 1971, the Crown Courts replaced the individual courts, and it is now a single court that may sit anywhere in England, deal with any trial on indictment, and hear appeals and proceedings either on a sentence or on civil matters. At the base of the criminal court system, the magistrates' courts try more than 97 percent of the criminal cases.

Business Law

Business law is the body of rules, whether by convention, agreement, or national or international legislation, governing the dealings between persons in commercial matters.

Business law falls into two distinctive areas: (1) the regulation of commercial entities by the laws of company, partnership, agency, and bankruptcy and (2) the regulation of commercial transactions by the laws of contract and related fields.

In civil-law countries, company law consists of statute law; in common-law countries it consists partly of the ordinary rules of common law and equity and partly statute law. Two fundamental legal concepts underlie the whole of company law: the concept of legal personality and the theory of limited liability. Nearly all statutory rules are intended to protect either creditors or investors.

There are various forms of legal business entities ranging from the sole trader, who alone bears the risk and responsibility of running a business, taking the profits, but as such not forming any association in law and thus not regulated by special rules of law, to the registered company with limited liability and to multinational corporations. In a partnership, members " associate, " forming collectively an association in which they all participate in management and sharing profits, bearing the liability for the firm's debts and being sued jointly and severally in relation to the firm's contracts and tortious acts. All partners are agents for each other and as such are in a fiduciary relationship with one another.

An agent is a person who is employed to bring his principal into contractual relations with third parties and various forms of agency, regulated by law, exist: universal, where an agent is appointed to handle all the affairs of his principal; general, where an agent has authority to represent his principal in all business of a certain kind; and special, where an agent is appointed for a particular purpose and given only limited powers. Appointment may be express or implied and may be terminated by acts of the parties; the death, bankruptcy, or insanity of either the principal or agent; frustration; or intervening illegality.

Civil Law

The historical rise of civil law.

In the 5th and 6th centuries western and central Europe were dominated by Germanic peoples, especially those who had overrun the Roman Empire. Among them were the Anglo-Saxons of England, the Franks of western Germany and northern France, the Burgundians, the Visigoths of southern France and Spain, and the Lombards of Italy. Although Roman law traditions lingered on for some time, the Germanic customs came to prevail in most regions.

In the Middle Ages these customs underwent vigorous growth in an effort to satisfy the complex needs of a society that encompassed changing feudalism, chivalry, growing cities, Eastern colonisation, increasing trade, and a constantly refined culture. Among the many strands that went into the weaving of the complex pattern of medieval law, the customs of the merchants and the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church were of special significance. It was through the canon law that the concepts and ideas of ancient Rome continued to make their presence felt, even when, as a whole, Roman law had been forgotten.

In the late 11th century Roman law was rediscovered and made the subject matter of learned study and teaching by scholars in northern Italy, especially at Bologna. With the increasing demand for trained judges and administrators, first by the Italian city-republics, then by princes in other localities, students flocked to Bologna from all over Europe, until the study and teaching of law were gradually taken over by local universities. As a result of this process, Roman law penetrated into the administration of justice north of the Alps, especially in Germany and the Netherlands, where the Roman-law influence became particularly strong.

Common Law

Important differences exist between the criminal law of most English-speaking countries and that of other countries. The criminal law of England and the United States derives from the traditional English common law of crimes and has its origins in the judicial decisions embodied in reports of decided cases. England has consistently rejected all efforts toward comprehensive legislative codification of its criminal law; even now there is no statutory definition of murder in English law. Some Commonwealth countries, however, notably India, have enacted criminal codes that are based on the English common law of crimes.

The criminal law of the United States, derived from the English common law, has been adapted in some respects to American conditions. In the majority of the U.S. states the common law of crimes has been repealed by legislation. The effect of such statutes is that no person may be tried for any offence that is not specified in the statutory law of the state. But even in these states the common-law principles continue to exert influence, for the criminal statutes are often simply codifications of the common law, and their provisions are interpreted by reference to the common law.

THE US GOVERNMENT

After its 200th birthday, the United States of America still holds the position in the capitalist world. A country that has inspired many appellations- “Land of Opportunity». «Melting-Pot", " " God's Country", it is still referred to by advocates of capitalism as a land of superlatives—" the richest", " the greatest", " the most".

In size, the United States is not the biggest. It ranks fourth among the nations after the Soviet Union, Canada and China. It also ranks fourth in population after China, India and the Soviet Union.

What makes the USA the leader of the capitalist world is its economic, political and military dominance over other capitalist countries.

The United States of America is a bourgeois republic, where political power belongs to monopoly capitalists. The government is divided into three branches: legislative (the US Congress), executive (the President and his Administration) and judicial (the US Supreme Court). The US Congress is made up mainly of representatives of big business: bankers, industrialists and their lawyers. Workers and poor farmers are not represented at all.

There arc two main political parties in the USA: the Democratic (symbolized by a " donkey" ) and the Republican (its symbol is an " elephant" ). They both are parties of monopoly capitalists and the American people do not see much difference between them. This is one of the reasons why so many abstain from voting. The US President is both head of state and of government He is elected for a' four-year term. Presidential elections are held every leap-year on first Tuesday after first Monday in November (1) The President is assisted by Secretaries who are at the head of the executive departments(2).The most important of the departments ate those of Slate and of Defense.

The Supreme Court consists of Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices who arc appointed for life. The Supreme Court is supposed to decide whether a law of the Congress or an executive order of the President is " constitutional" or not. The US Constitution of 1787 is written in such vague words that it needs interpretation and this has become one of the main functions of the US Supreme Court.

American sociologists make no spectacular discovery when they find that the United States is ruled by a finance oligarchy whose influence is growing all the time. In 1950, the 100 biggest American corporations controlled 38 per cent of all the assets in the manufacturing industries in the United States, while in 1970 their share in these branches rose to 48 per cent (and that with the considerable increase in the volume of production in the US).

A young politologist, D. Nicols.(here we are.taking one of many examples), in the best traditions of the " mudrakers", went as far as to castigate the " holy of holies" —the American political system. " Most political scientists, " he writes, " today deny that there is a ruling class. For them, the very concept is but a term in the obsolete vocabulary of the ideologies of the Left." The form of American government, he says, is fully suited to its purpose: the domination of monopolies in all aspects of life in the United States. " American governmental structure, " he writes, " probably renders it impossible for any potential political party aiming to vest control of the society... to win power through the electoral process. The structure of government in the United States is fragmented. There are two houses of Congress, separately elected, and a separately elected President, and jail have independent legislative power (they " check and balance" each other). Ordinarily seen as a virtue in school books, the fact is that once the basic interests of the corporate rich become incorporated into the diverse parts of government, the fragmented check-and-balance system makes it virtually impossible to effectively dislodge them through elections. Involved are many governments within one—courts, departments, commissions, and legislatures at national and at subnational levels—which have meshed their activities with the basic requirements of the corporate control system."

THE US CONSTITUTION

The form of the US government is based on the Constitution of September 17, 1787, adopted after the War of Independence. A " constitution" in American political language means the set of rules, laws, regulations and customs which together provide the practical norms or standards regulating the work of the government. The.document known as the Constitution of the United States, though a basic document, is only a part of the body of rules and customs which form the whole of the American Constitution. Supreme Court decisions, interpreting parts of the US Constitution, laws, regulations „and customs are part of the basic law (the so-called " live constitution" ). Most historians regard the US Constitution as an essentially conservative document drawn up by members of a privileged class bent on preserving their advantageous position.

In the course of the war against Britain the insurgent colonies set up thirteen states united under a federal government. In 1775—1778 all of these states adopted constitutions which opened with statements along the lines of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of the Confederation.(3) The newly formed federal republic had a very weak central control, and no president, while the Congress had only consultative functions. The conflict between the " lower classes" and the " upper classes" which had been dampened during the war years flared up with renewed force. The non-propertied classes were waking up to the fact that their position was a far cry from the lofty ideals of the War of Independence. Inflation, taxes, bankruptcies, maladministration of justice in the courts of law aroused indignation among the farmers who but a short time before were soldiers in the Continental Army and minute-men. (4)

In the fall of 1786 an uprising took place in the State of Massachusetts. It was headed by Daniel Shays who had in the past been a captain in the Continental Army. The insurgents dispersed the courts and opened the debtors' prisons. They heatedly discussed their ideas of true equality and threatened to defend these ideas with force. The Massachusetts rebellion rocked the country. Washington and other American leaders were very much afraid that a " revolution" was imminent.

The rebellion was finally put down, but summary action had to be taken to prevent its repetition Significantly, the militia that crushed the rebellion was set up with money donated by Massachusetts' wealthy citizens, and not by a decree of the state legislature. That was a dangerous sign which showed the ruling classes that they must without delay set up a strong system of national government—a system which, first and foremost, would serve their own interests.

In 1787, the Constitutional Convention met behind closed doors to formulate a Constitution for the United States. The Constitution agreed upon, is, with some amendments, in force to this day. This document embodied the political theories of the Founding Fathers (5), who represented the interests of the propertied minority in the country.

Of the seventy-four delegates chosen to represent the states at the Constitutional Convention, fifty-five attended sessions at one time or another, but only thirty-nine signed the final document The membership of the Convention did not represent a cross-section of the American people. One of the thirteen states was not represented at all, for Rhode Island had refused to send delegates. The great majorities of the delegates were men of property and tended to be conservative in outlook. Forty of the members held public securities, fourteen were land speculators, eleven were interested in mercantile, manufacturing, -and shipping activities, and fifteen were slave-holders. The small farmer and debtor classes were virtually without representation. The Founding Fathers were very much afraid of the many Americans who were questioning the established social and economic order.

The philosophy of government inherent in the Constitution was interpreted by Madison, Hamilton and Jay in 85 issues of " The Federalist" published in several newspapers of New York State in 1787 and 1788. The main line of argument of " The Federalist" was the assumption that private property was the backbone; of liberty. Thus any attempt on private property was an attempt on liberty itself; and if so, then a democracy that advocates redistribution of private property negates liberty. The rich plantation owner from Virginia, James Madison, who formulated this principle, is regarded as the " father of the Constitution" precisely for this reason.

The colonists fighting in the war for freedom, almost identical to them with the protection of property, were also fighting for the perpetuation of Negro slavery. Washington, Jefferson, Madison and many other leaders in the struggle against Britain were slave owners. The fact that several thousand Negroes fought in the ranks of the Continental Army was of no consequence for the situation of the Negroes who at that time accounted for one-fifth of the country's population. After the victory the federal government paid for the freedom of some Negro veterans at one thousand dollars a head, while all others were returned to slavery.

The Constitution set up a strict division or separation of powers, classifying governmental powers as executive, legislative and judicial, and entrusting the performance of each to separate agencies (the US Presidency, Congress, and Supreme Court). The theory of " separated powers" was supplemented by " checks and balances", those various safeguards and devices which protect against too great a concentration of power in any governmental body. The President has the power to veto acts of the legislature, but that body may override the veto by a two-thirds vote of both houses. Moreover, the Congress may impeach (6) the Chief Executive and remove him from office. The Congress passes laws, but the President enforces them. Major executive and judicial appointments are made by the President, but they are subject to the Senate confirmation (" by advice and consent" ). Perhaps a better description of the " separation of powers" theory would be " shared powers", since these powers are not absolutely and clearly separated. This very complicated structure of " checks and balances" was meant to perpetuate the oligarchic republic. James Madison saw this as a guarantee against the capture of the system of government by a radical majority. And although the political thought of the Founding Fathers has been canonized, this aspect of the system of government is kept in the shade and is replaced by the noisy rhetoric about " incomparable American democracy".

For American historians, the formula of " democracy born of the American Revolution" is nothing but a cliché which is not taken seriously in scholarly research. In drawing up the Constitution, the Founding Fathers were thinking in terms of their own time. And in those terms democracy was not thought of as a monolithic entity. Their view held that if all the functions of fidelity (the democratic function), wisdom (the aristocratic function), and energy, secrecy and dispatch (the monarchial functions) could be held in balance, this would provide the best of all possible commonwealths.

The US Constitution consists of the Preamble, seven articles and twenty-six amendments, the first ten of them called collectively the Bill of Rights and adopted under the popular pressure in 1791. When the Constitution was first proposed in 1787, there was wide-spread dissatisfaction because it did not contain guarantees of certain basic freedoms and individual rights.

The Constitution consolidated those gains of the Revolution that were to the advantage of the capitalist class which was now in full control of the nation's destinies. Significantly, nothing was said about the elementary bourgeois-democratic freedoms. The Founding Fathers who presided over the Constitutional Convention believed that this issue could somehow be avoided, in spite of the warnings that came from their own midst The more far-sighted Americans were aware of the growing popular demands for the passage of a Bill of Rights on freedom of speech, press and conscience, etc. The revolution that had shortly before started in France encouraged people in these demands.

In December 1791, the Congress adopted ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights. The Bill enumerated what the government controlled by the oligarchy was not going to be allowed to do, which was, of course, an important democratic gain for the people. Some of these ten amendments are now relatively unimportant, such as the Third which prohibits the quartering of soldiers in private houses in peace-time without the consent of the owners-. But others, especially the Fifth Amendment, continue to be of importance and significance in the fight of the American people for their civil rights. The Fifth (the " due process" amendment) provides that " no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law", and no person " shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself-" Taking the Fifth" has become a common phrase because many witnesses before televised congressional committee investigations during the prosecution of progressive Americans by the notorious Senator McCarthy have refused to answer questions about their records and activities on the grounds that such answers might incriminate them.

The Bill of Rights is violated daily by the judicial and law-enforcement practice. The so-called " gag laws" (7) abridge freedom of speech, of the press and of the right to petition; the Fourth (the " searches and seizures" (8) amendment) is nullified by the " law and order" (9) edicts of the government, such as " knock, knock" (10) and " stop and frisk" (11).

The " right to counsel" (the Sixth Amendment), a fundamental right of an attorney at any stage of a criminal prosecution, has come to mean a common practice of convicting those who have no money to pay counsel fees.

Americans feel that of all the freedoms proclaimed in the Constitution there is only one freedom—freedom of enterprise. But freedom of enterprise does not at all expand personal freedoms of all citizens. On the contrary, it limits them. Freedom of enterprise in practice means freedom of the wealthy to profit at the expense of the workingman breeding outright inequality under capitalism. •

If there is no freedom to work, no guaranteed labour, you face unemployment and poverty. The main freedoms after all a man needs are a life of security, a guaranteed income and guaranteed health care, rather than freedom o unemployment and poverty. The " International Herald Tribune" of June 20, 1974, reports a Senate Committee as stating, " Five years after President Nixon's promise to end hunger in America the nation's needy are hungrier and poorer: 40 million people remain poor and near poor". This is the kind of " affluence" with which every American is familiar.

CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS

The Congress of the United States is composed of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate represents the states arid the House represents the population according to its distribution among the states. Each state is guaranteed at least one representative in the House. The remainder are apportioned among the states according to their population. There is now, roughly, one representative for every 380, 000 people, but no two congressional districts have exactly the same population.

The Senate of the United States is composed of one hundred members, two being elected from each state Senators are chosen for six years, one-third retiring or seeking re- election every two years. Two senators from the same state never finish their terms at the same time, one of them is called " Senior Senator" and the other — " Junior Senator". Theoretically all citizens of both sexes over 18 years of age have the right to vote, but in fact this is not so.

All states have electoral requirements of some nature. First of all, there are residence requirements. The Voting Rights Act of 1970 sets a 30-day residence as the only pre-condition, to voting in federal elections. According to the Twenty Sixth Amendment of the. US Constitution, adopted in 1971, the voting age was lowered to 18 years.

The election laws and their qualifications vary from state to state.

As a result of this, millions of people are deprived of the right to vote. At the same time it is well known that Americans are less disposed to exercise their right to vote than just about any other nation. The percentage of voters in the potential electorate (the adult citizenry) is about 65 per cent. One of the reasons for nonvoting is the two-party system. In the United States there are two major bourgeois political parties, the Democratic and the Republican (also called G.O.P.—the " Grand Old Party" ). Both of them represent the interests of the monopoly capitalists and there is no clear-cut difference between the two parties, between their policies and their party machines, but there is a difference between their bosses and their rank-and-filemembers, common people who, lacking a third choice, have to vote either Democratic or Republican.

According to the Report to the 21st Convention of the Communist Party USA held in Chicago on June 26—30, 1975, the percentage of people,

who do not identify with or support either of the two old parties is now the largest in history. Also, the number of votes who do not vote is at an all-time high. It is estimated some 75 per cent of the eligible voters, those who do not register, and those who register but do not vote, are not in the electoral process. Most elections are won with a majority of the 25 per cent who do vote. Also voters who consider themselves independents are now the largest single political grouping.

Thearea in which one lives is still considered an important factor in determining one's vote, though sectionalism appears to be of decreasing importance.-Until recent years, the South was " solid" for the Democrats, while New England was " Rock- ribber” (12) for the Republicans.

The great cities of the United States show a strong tendency to vote Democratic, while suburban areas have become Republican bastions in many parts of the nation.

Blue-collar workers and racial minority groups are 'concentrated in cities. Since these groups tend to vote Democratic, the party they support has great strength in cities. On the other hand, those who belong to the high income groups and usually vote Republican are concentrated in suburban areas.

The party machines of both Republican and Democratic parties are run by party bosses closely associated with different monopoly groups and these two main political parties in the USA are parties of the monopoly capitalists. - The Democratic and Republican parties have monopolized political life in the USA.

The country is run by what is known as the " Establishment", which, since this word is understood in a variety of ways, might be better termed a " republican form of oligarchy", or " government by the few".. And this does describe the United States that emerged during the War of Independence when the planters of the South and the big industrialists of New England rose to become the rulers of the young country. Now they have been replaced by the Moguls of finance capital. The very form of oligarchic republic provides for a certain degree of diffusion of power in the hands of, say, several hundred people who are outwardly independent of one another in terms of party membership. This can explain the well-known phenomenon of the American political scene: the simultaneous financing of the two biggest parties of the country, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, by the same monopolies. Because of the bipartisan system of the elections, the majority of the nation, its working class, poor farmers and seasonal workers, have no other choice but to vote either for the Democrats or the Republicans.

There is little doubt that many voters see nothing to choose between the Tweedledumism of the Democrates and' the Tweedledeeism (13) of the Republicans. Lacking a third choice, they fail to choose at all. The central objective towards which all forces of the Left are striving is an independent electoral policy, and the Communist Party of the USA calls for united effort of labour membership, civil rights movement, youth movement, advocates of peace, so that they could present meaningful alternatives to labour and minority groups and other people's forces in terms of their needs and interests.

THE US CONGRESS

Through its power over the purse, the US Congress can control much that relates to foreign policy. Foreign policy is largely an executive responsibility, but the Congress also plays an important role in appropriating funds and conducting investigations. The role of the US Congress inside the country is even more important. The US Congress is the governmental body that determines taxation.

The federal tax burden has been switched so that more than two-thirds of the taxes are paid by workers and more than two-thirds of the funds are spent for the benefit of capitalists.

In discussing leadership in the federal legislature, one may begin with the party conference. There are four of these loose-knit organizations— one for each party in each House—and all senators arid representatives are automatically members according to their political affiliation. Before a new Congress convenes, the party representatives meet to nominate their candidates for the Senate and House offices. Foremost among the officers named by the majority party of the House of Representatives is the Speaker. His prestige is rather high, he is second to the Vice-President in the line of presidential succession.

The presiding officer of the Senate is the Vice-President of the United States. Unlike the Speaker, the Vice-President is not a member of the chamber over which he presides and he sometimes is not a member of the party in power. From among its own membership the Senate chooses, on nomination by the party in power, a presiding officer known as the '" president pro tempore", who acts when the Vice-President is absent or when he succeeds to the Presidency. The work of the US Congress is done mostly in different committees. " Congress in its committee rooms is Congress at work." This maxim is ascribed to President Woodrow Wilson (1913—1921).

The standing committees of the Congress are specialist committees to which legislation concerning their particular field must be sent. The most important of the Senate committees are Appropriations, Foreign Relations, Finance, Armed Services, Judiciary, Agriculture and Forestry, and Interstate and Foreign Commerce.

In the House of Representatives the most important of the committees are Rules, Appropriations, Ways and Means, Armed Services, Judiciary, Agriculture, Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Foreign Affairs, and Government Operations. There are also a number of joint committees of both houses. The most important is the Joint Economic Committee. Many of the committees are divided into a number of subcommittees, each with its own responsibility for a specialized area of the committee's field of interest. The chairmen of the standing committees are considered the real rulers of the Senate and of the House. The chairman calls committee meetings, sometimes at his own convenience. Bills he favours enjoy an initial advantage; those he opposes suffer a grave handicap. Seniority governs committee choices, and the seniority system gave preponderant weight to racists from southern states, who have long made them one-party states (under the Dixiecrat (14) rule) and had a good chance of being re-elected often enough to gain commanding seniority. Seniority is. a privileged status attained by the length of continuous service in the US Congress. Most of the country is run by what is known as the " Establishment", which, since this word is understood in a variety of ways, might be better termed a " republican form of oligarchy", or " government by the few".. And this does describe the United States that emerged during the War of Independence when the planters of the South and the big industrialists of New England rose to become the rulers of the young country. Now they have been replaced by the Moguls of finance capital. The very form of oligarchic republic provides for a certain degree of diffusion of power in the hands of, say, several hundred people who are outwardly independent of one another in terms of party membership. This can explain the well-known phenomenon of the American political scene: the simultaneous financing of the two biggest parties of the country, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, by the same monopolies. Because of the bipartisan system of the elections, the majority of the nation, its working class, poor farmers and seasonal workers, have no other choice but to vote either for the Democrats or the Republicans.

There is little doubt that many voters see nothing to choose between the Tweedledumism of the Democrates and the Tweedledeeism of the Republicans.¹³ Lacking a third choice, they fail to choose at all. The central objective towards which all forces of the Left are striving is an independent electoral policy, and the Communist Party of the USA calls for united effort of labour membership, civil rights movement, youth movement, advocates of peace, so that they could present meaningful alternatives to labour and minority groups and other people's forces in terms of their needs and interests.

STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Each of the fifty states of the USA has a constitution patterned after the federal Constitution, with its divisions of power: legislative, executive and judicial. The head of each state is the governor, elected for four or two years. The office of the governor is one of considerable prestige and political power and has been steadily growing in influence. The governor is assisted by secretaries. The state legislatures consist of two houses (except Nebraska which has a single-chamber legislature) and they collect taxes, elect their officers, approve state government officials, and pass state laws. No state, however, may pass a law contrary to the Constitution or the United States laws. According to the doctrine of " national supremacy", when there is a conflict between federal and state authority, the federal authority should prevail.

Each state creates units of local government the chief unit of local government is the county, of which there are more than 3, 000. The counties maintain public order through the sheriff and his deputies; in many states the counties maintain the smaller local highways. The sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer of the county. He is also officer of the court: he serves papers, enforces orders, and maintains the jail, with particular functions varying from state to state, the sheriffs deputy is appointed by the sheriff. He assists the sheriff in law enforcement, and in some states may act in place of the sheriff. He is usually paid in fees. Most large cities have an elected mayor as head of the local government and an elected council to help him. Some smaller cities have a commission form of government five men are elected to take care of the city's services and its money problems.

The mayor-council system is the most popular kind of local government and the city-manager type is the second most popular. In this kind of government an elected council hires a professional city manager to administer and watch over the city's business. The elected council keeps the legislative power.

THE US GOVERNMENT.

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