The American Commonwealth. Viscount James Bryce

be construed to exclude the Bible from use in schools, and Idaho, Montana, and Utah (states familiar with Mormonism), denouncing bigamy and polygamy as crimes to be made punishable.

      Louisiana (Constitution of 1898) declares that “all government of right originates with the people, is founded on their will alone, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole. Its only legitimate end is to secure justice to all, preserve peace, and promote the interest and happiness of the people.”

      A large majority of the states declare that “all men have a natural, inherent, and inalienable right to enjoy and defend life and liberty”; and all of these, except the melancholy Missouri, add, the “natural right to pursue happiness.”

      Most declare that all men have “a natural right to acquire, possess, and protect property,” while Arkansas and Kentucky are so penetrated with the importance of this right that they declare it to be “before and higher than any constitutional sanction.”

      Mississippi and Louisiana (Constitutions of 1868) provided that “the right of all citizens to travel upon public conveyances shall not be infringed upon nor in any manner abridged.” Both states have now dropped this injunction.¹⁹

      Kentucky (Constitution of 1891) lays down that “absolute arbitrary power over the lives, liberty, and property of freemen exists nowhwere in a republic, not even in the largest majority. All men when they form a social compact are equal. All power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace, safety, happiness, and security, and the protection of property. For the advancement of these ends they have at all times an inalienable and indefeasible right to alter, reform, or abolish their government in such manner as they may deem proper.” ²⁰

      

      All in one form or another secure the freedom of writing and speaking opinions; and some add that the truth of a libel may be given in evidence.²¹

      Nearly all secure the freedom of public meeting and petition. Considering that these are the last rights likely to be infringed by a state government, it is odd to find Florida in her Constitution of 1886 providing that “the people shall have the right to assemble together to consult for the common good, to instruct their representatives, and to petition the legislature for redress of grievances,” and Kentucky in 1891 equally concerned to secure this right.

      Many provide that no ex post facto law, nor law impairing the obligation of a contract, shall be passed by the state legislature; and that private property shall not be taken by the state without just compensation.

      Many forbid the creation of any title of nobility.

      Many declare that the right of citizens to bear arms shall never be denied, a provision which might be expected to prove inconvenient where it was desired to check the habit of carrying revolvers. Tennessee therefore (Constitution of 1870) prudently adds that “the legislature shall have power to regulate the wearing of arms, with a view to prevent crime.” So also Texas, where such a provision is certainly not superfluous. And eight others²² allow the legislature to forbid the carrying of concealed weapons.

      Several forbid armed men to be brought into the state “for the suppression of domestic violence,” in order to prevent employers from resorting to this means of protecting property in case of labour disputes accompanied by violence.

      Some declare that the estates of suicides shall descend in the ordinary course of law.

      Most provide that conviction for treason shall not work corruption of blood nor forfeiture of estate.

      Eight forbid white and coloured children to be taught in the same public schools, while Wyoming provides that no distinction shall be made in the public schools on account of sex, race, or colour.

      Many declare the right of trial by jury to be inviolate, even while permitting the parties to waive it. Several states empower a jury in civil cases to render a verdict by a three-fourths or two-thirds majority, and five states permit it to consist of less than twelve.

      Some forbid imprisonment for debt, except in case of fraud, and secure the acceptance of reasonable bail, except for the gravest charges.²³

      Several declare that “perpetuities and monopolies are contrary to the genius of a free State, and ought not to be allowed.”

      Many forbid the granting of any hereditary honours, privileges, or emoluments.

      North Carolina declares that “as political rights and privileges are not dependent upon or modified by property, therefore no property qualification ought to affect the right to vote or hold office”; and also, “secret political societies are dangerous to the liberties of a free people, and should not be tolerated.”

      Massachusetts sets forth, as befits a Puritan state, high moral views: “A frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the Constitution, and a constant adherence to those of piety, justice, moderation, temperance, industry, and frugality, are absolutely necessary to preserve the advantages of liberty and to maintain a free government. The people ought consequently to have a particular attention to all those principles in the choice of their officers and representatives, and they have a right to require of their law-givers and magistrates an exact and constant observance of them.”

      South Dakota and Wyoming provide that aliens shall have the same rights of property as citizens. Montana confers this benefit as respects mining property, while Washington prohibits the ownership of land by aliens, except for mining purposes. New York in her (now superseded) Constitution of 1846 declared, “All lands within the State are declared to be allodial.”

      North Dakota (1889) enacts: “Every citizen shall be free to obtain employment wherever possible, and any person, corporation, or agent thereof, maliciously interfering or hindering in any way any citizen from obtaining, or enjoying employment already obtained, from any other corporation or person, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.”

      Maryland (Constitution of 1867) declares that “a long continuance in the executive departments of power or trust is dangerous to liberty; a rotation, therefore, in those departments is one of the best securities of permanent freedom.” She also pronounces all gifts for any religious purpose (except of a piece of land not exceeding five acres for a place of worship, parsonage, or burying-ground) to be void unless sanctioned by the legislature.

      Montana and Idaho declare the use of lands for constructing reservoirs, watercourses, or ways for the purposes of mining or irrigation, to be a public use, subject to state regulation.

      Oklahoma provides that “the right of the State to engage in any occupation or business for public purposes shall be be denied or prohibited” save that its agricultural enterprises are to be only “for scientific, educational or charitable purposes.”

      These instances, a few out of many, may suffice to show how remote from the common idea of a bill of rights, are some of the enactments which find a place under that heading. The constitution makers seem to have inserted here such doctrines or legal reforms as seemed to them matters of high import or of wide application, especially when they could find no suitable place for them elsewhere in the instrument.

      Of the articles of each state constitution which contain the frame of state government it will be more convenient to speak in the chapters which describe the mechanism and character of the governments and administrative systems of the several states. I pass on therefore to what have been classed as the miscellaneous provisions. These are of great interest as revealing the spirit and tendencies of popular government in America, the economic and social condition of the country, the mischiefs that have arisen, the remedies applied to these mischiefs, the ideas and beliefs of the people in matters of legislation.

      Among such provisions we find a great deal of matter which is in no distinctive sense constitutional law, but general law, e.g., administrative law, the law of judicial procedure, the ordinary private law of family, inheritance, contract, and so forth; matter therefore which seems out of place in a constitution because fit to be dealt with in ordinary statutes. We find minute provisions regarding the management and liabilities of banking