It results from what we have said, that, in the State of Massachusetts, the administrative authority is almost entirely restricted to the township,* and that it is there distributed among a great number of individuals. In the French commune, there is properly but one official functionary, namely, the Maire; and in New England, we have seen that there are nineteen. These nineteen functionaries do not, in general, depend one upon another. The law carefully prescribes a circle of action to each of these magistrates; within that circle, they are all-powerful to perform their functions independently of any other authority. Above the township, scarcely any trace of a hierarchy of official dignities is to be found. It sometimes happens, that the county officers alter a decision of the townships, or town magistrates; † but, in general, the authorities of the county have no right to interfere with the authorities of the township, except in such matters as concern the county.

The magistrates of the township, as well as those of the

* I say almost, for there are many incidents in town-life which are regulated by the justices of peace in their individual capacity, or by an assembly of them in the chief town of the county; thus, licenses are granted by the justices.

† Thus, licenses are granted only to such persons as can produce a certificate of good conduct from the selectmen. If the selectmen refuse to give the certificate, the party may appeal to the justices assembled in the Court of Sessions; and they may grant the license. The townships have the right to make by-laws, and to enforce them by fines, which are fixed by law; but these by-laws must be approved by the Court of Sessions. [In several respects, these laws and customs have been altered by general legislation since the time when De Tocqueville wrote. But I do not think it necessary to specify all these alterations, as generally it is not the principle, but only the details, of the law that have been changed. — AM. ED.]

In Massachusetts the county magistrates are frequently called upon to investigate the acts of the town magistrates; but it will be shown farther on that this investigation is a consequence, not of their administrative, but of their judicial power.

county, are bound, in a small number of predetermined cases, to communicate their acts to the central government.* But the central government is not represented by an agent whose business it is to publish police regulations and ordinances for the execution of the laws, or to keep up a regular communication with the officers of the township and the county, or to inspect their conduct, direct their actions, or reprimand their faults. There is no point which serves as a centre to the radii of the administration.

How, then, can the government be conducted on a uniform plan? and how is the compliance of the counties and their magistrates, or the townships and their officers, enforced? In the New England States, the .legislative authority embraces more subjects than it does in France; the legislator penetrates to the very core of the administration; the law descends to minute details; the same enactment prescribes the principle and the method of its application, and thus imposes a multitude of strict and rigorously defined obligations on the secondary bodies and functionaries of the State. The consequence of this is, that, if all the secondary functionaries of the administration conform to the law, society in all its branches proceeds with the greatest uniformity. The difficulty remains, how to compel the secondary bodies and functionaries of the administration to conform to the law. It may be affirmed, in general, that society has only two methods of enforcing the execution of the laws: a discretionary power may be intrusted to one of them of directing all the others, and of removing them in case of disobedience; or the courts of justice may be required to inflict judicial penalties on the offender. But these two methods are not always available.

The right of directing a civil officer presupposes that of

*Thus, the town committees of schools are obliged to make an annual eport to the Secretary of the State on the condition of the schools.

cashiering him if he does not obey orders, and of rewarding him by promotion if he fulfils his duties with propriety. But an elected magistrate cannot be cashiered or promoted. All elective functions are inalienable until their term expires. In fact, the elected magistrate has nothing to expect or to fear, except from his constituents; and when all public offices are filled by ballot, there can be no series of official dignities, because the double right of commanding and of enforcing obedience can never be vested in the same person, and because the power of issuing an order can never be joined to that of inflicting a punishment or bestowing a reward.

The communities, therefore, in which the secondary functionaries of the government are elected, are perforce obliged to make great use of judicial penalties as a means of administration. This is not evident at first sight; for those in power are apt to look upon the institution of elective functionaries as one concession, and the subjection of the elected magistrate to the judges of the land as another. They are equally averse to both these innovations; and as they are more pressingly solicited to grant the former than the latter, they accede to the election of the magistrate, and leave him independent of the judicial power. Nevertheless, the second of these measures is the only thing that can possibly counterbalance the first; and it will be found that an elective authority which is not subject to judicial power will, sooner or later, either elude all control or be destroyed. The courts of justice are the only possible medium between the central power and the administrative bodies; they alone can compel the elected functionary to obey, without violating the rights of the elector. The extension of judicial power in the political world ought, therefore, to be in the exact ratio of the extension of elective power: if these two institutions do not go hand in hand, the State must fall into anarchy or into servitude.

It has always been remarked that judicial habits do not render men apt to the exercise of administrative authority. The Americans have borrowed from their fathers, the English, the idea of an institution which is unknown upon the continent of Europe: I allude to that of Justices of the Peace.

The Justice of the Peace is a sort of middle term between the magistrate and the man of the world, between the civil officer and the judge. A justice of the peace is a well-informed citizen, though he is not necessarily learned in the law. His office simply obliges him to execute the police regulations of society, a task in which good sense and integrity are of more avail than legal science. The justice introduces into the administration, when he takes part in it, a certain taste for established forms and publicity, which renders him a most unserviceable instrument for despotism; and, on the other hand, he is not a slave of those legal superstitions which render judges unfit members of a government. The Americans have adopted the English system of justices of the peace, depriving it of the aristocratic character which distinguishes it in the mother country. The Governor of Massachusetts appoints a certain number of justices of the peace in every county, whose functions last seven years. He further designates three individuals from the whole body of justices, who form in each county what is called the Court of Sessions.* The justices take a personal share in the public administration; they are sometimes intrusted with administrative functions in conjunction with elected officers; † they sometimes con

* The Court of Sessions no longer exists as such; its functions have been merged in those of the ordinary legal tribunals. —AM. ED.

† Thus, for example, a stranger arrives in a township from a country where a contagious disease prevails, and he falls ill. Two justices of the peace can, with the assent of the selectmen, order the sheriff of the county to remove and take care of him. In general, the justices interfere in all the important acts of the administration, and give them a semi-judicial character.

stitute a tribunal, before which the magistrates summarily prosecute a refractory citizen, or the citizens inform against the abuses of the magistrate. But it is in the Court of Sessions that they exercise their most important functions. This court meets twice a year, in the county town; in Massachusetts, it is empowered to enforce the obedience of most of the public officers.† It must be observed that, in Massachusetts, the Court of Sessions is at the same time an administrative body, properly so called, and a political tribunal. It has been mentioned that the county is a purely administrative division. The Court of Sessions presides over that small number of affairs which, as they concern several townships, or all the townships of the county in common, cannot be intrusted to any one of them in particular. In all that concerns county business, the duties of the Court of Sessions are purely administrative; and if in its procedure it occasionally introduces judicial forms, it is only with a view to its own information,§ or as a guaranty to those for whom it acts. But when the administration of the township is brought before it, it acts

* I say most of them, because certain administrative misdemeanors are brought before the ordinary tribunals. If, for instance, a township refuses to make the necessary expenditure for its schools, or to name a school-committce, it is liable to a heavy fine. But this penalty is pronounced by the Supreme Judicial Court or the Court of Common Pleas.

† In their individual capacity, the Justices of the Peace take a part in the business of the counties and townships. In general, the most important acts of the town can be performed only with the concurrence of some one of them.

These affairs may be brought under the following heads:-1. The erection of prisons and courts of justice. 2. The county budget, which is afterwards voted by the State legislature. 3. The distribution of the taxes so voted. 4. Grants of certain patents. 5. The laying down and repairs of the county roads. [Most of these acts are now performed by the County Commissioners. —AM. ED.]

§ Thus, when a road is under consideration almost all difficulties are disposed of by the aid of the jury.