sovereignty

The very meaning of sovereignty is that the decree of the sovereign makes law.

The union and exercise of all human power possessed in a state. It is a combination of all power; it is the power to do everything in a state without accountability, — to make laws, to execute and to apply them, to impose and collect taxes and levy contributions, to make war or peace, to form treaties of alliance or of commerce with foreign nations, and the like. Story, Const. §207. Abstractly, sovereignty resides in the body of the nation, and belongs to the people; but these powers are generally exercised by delegation. When analyzed, sovereignty is naturally divided into three great powers, namely, the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary. The first is the power to make new laws, and to correct and repeal the old; the second is the power to execute the laws, both at home and abroad; and the last is the power to apply the laws to particular facts, to judge the disputes which arise among the citizens, and to punish crimes. Strictly speaking, in our republican forms of government the absolute sovereignty of the nation is in the people of the nation; and the residuary sovereignty of each state, not granted to any of ite public functionaries, is in the people of the state. 2 Dall. (U. S.) 471. And see, generally, 2 Dall. (U. S.) 483, 455; 3 Dall. (U. S.) 93; 1 Story, Const. §208; 1 Toullier. Dr. Civ. note 20; Merlin, Repert. SOWMING and ROWMING.

In Scotch law. Terms used to express the form by which the number of cattle' brought upon a common by those having a servitude of pasturage may be justly proportioned to ^ the rights of the different persons possessed [,S of the servitude. Bell, Diet. "'}

The union and exercise of all human power possessed in a state: it is a combination of all power; it is the power to do everything in a state without accountability, — to make laws, to execute and to apply them, to impose and collect taxes and levy contributions, to make war or peace, to form treaties of alliance or of commerce with foreign nations, and the like. Story, Const. $ 207. The artificial soul of that artificial body, the state. Spencer. As long as it is accurately employed... it is a merely legal conception and means ployed in a political rather than a legal sense. Dicey, Engl. Constitution. Abstractly, sovereignty resides in the body of the nation and belongs to the people. But these powers are generally exercised by delegation. When analyzed, sovereignty is naturally divided into three great powers: namely, the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary; the first is the power to make new laws and to collect and repeal the old; the second is the power to execute the laws, both at home and abroad; and the last is the power to apply the laws to particular facts, to judge the disputes which arise among the citizens, and to punish crimes. See Executive Power; Legislative Power; Judicial Power. Strictly speaking, in our republican forms of government the absolute sovereignty of the nation is in the people of the nation; and the residuary sovereignty of each state, not granted to any of its public functionaries, is in the people of the state; Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dali. (U. S.) 471, 1 L. Ed. 440. In international law a state is considered sovereign when it is organized for political purposes and permanently occupies a fixed territory. It must have an organized government capable of enforcing law and be free from all external control. A wandering tribe of savages, or nomads, or people united merely for commercial purposes or under control of another state cannot be considered as a sovereign state. Until a state becomes sovereign in the sense above described, it is not subject to international law. The states of the American Union are each, in a certain sense, sovereign in their domestic concerns, but not in international law, and Norway is an instance of a community not sovereign in international law because bound in a union with Sweden. The fact of sovereignty is usually established by general recognition of other states, and, until such recognition is universal, no community can be considered as sovereign; Snow, Int Law 19. See International Law. Every sovereign state is bound to respect the independence of every other sovereign state, and the courts of one country will not sit in judgment on the acts of the government of another, done within its own territory. Underhill v. Hernandez, 168 U. S. 250, 18 Sup. Ct. 83, 42 L. Ed. 456. “The transactions of independent states between each other are governed by other laws than those which municipal courts administer; such courts have neither the means of deciding what is right, nor the power of enforcing any decision which they may make.” 13 Moore, P. G. 75. And the same is the case with their dealings with the subjects of other states; Pollock, Torts 105. Public agents, military or civil, or foreign ble In any courts of the United States for' things done in their own states in the exercise of the sovereignty thereof, in pursuance of the directions of their governments; Underhill v. Hernandez, 65 Fed. 577, 13 C. C. A. 51, 38 L. R. A. 405. The government of one country will not sit in judgment on the acts of the government of another country, done within its own territory; Underhill v. Hernandez, 168 U. S. 250, 18 Sup. Ct. 83, 42 L. Ed. 456. Sovereignty means that the decree of the sovereign makes law; and foreign courts cannot condemn the influences persuading the sovereign to make the decree; American Banana Co. v. United Fruit Co., 213 U. S. 347, 29 Sup. Ct. 511, 53 L. Ed. 826, 16 Ann. Cas. 1047. The idea of sovereignty was not associated in the Teutonic mind with dominion over a particular portion of the earth’s surface; it was distinctly personal or tribal; and so was their conception of law. Taylor, Science of Jurispr. 133. See Sovereign; State.

! The public authority which orders and directs vv-hat is to be done by each member of a political community in relation to the purposes of the association.^ The supreme power which governs the body politic or society that constitutes the state.3 The exercise of, or right to exercise, supreme power, dominion, or sway; as applied to a- State, the right to exercise supreme power, dominion, or authority.* In international law, the uncontrolled exclusive exercise of the powers of a state, q. V.; that is, both of the power of entering into relations with other states, and of the power of governing its own subjects. •' All legislative powers appertain to sovereignty. The original power of giving the law, on any subject whatever, is a sovereign power. In America, the powers of sovereignty are divided between the government of the Union, and those of the States. I^acli is sovereign with respect to the subjects committed to it« Sovereignty and legislature are convertible terms: one cannot subsist without the other. Legislature is the greatest act of superiority that can be exercised by one being over another... "Wherever the power of making laws resides, all other powers must conform to and be directed \iy it.. In a democracy there can be no exercise of sovereignty but by suffrage, which is the declaration of the people's will. In England, where the people do not debate in a collective body, but by representation, the exercise of sovereignty consists in the choice of representatives.' The sovereign or supreme power in every state resides in the people. Blackstone supposes the jura summi imperii, or the right of sovereignty, to reside in those hands in which the exercise of the power of making laws is placed. Our simple and more reasonable idea is that the government is a mere agency established by the people for the exercise of those* powers which reside in them. The powers of government are not, in strictness, granted, but delegated powers. They are then trust powers, and may be revoked. It results that no portion of sovereignty resides in government.^ See further Government; Kins; State, 8; San, 3; Theason. ^ F. soverain: L. L. superanus, chief: super, above. 2 [Vattel, Law of Nations, § 1. = Gilmer v. Lime Point, 18 Cal. 261 (1861). * Territory v. Lee, 2 Monta. 130 (1874j, Wade, C. J.; Moore v. Smaw, 17 Cal. 199 (1861); Chancely v. Bailey, 37 Ga. 532 (1868). ' Woolsey, Int. Law, § 37. » M'Cu Uoch V. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 409-10 (1819), Marshall, C. J. ' 1 Bl, Com. 46, 49, 53, 170-71. See also 1 Story, Const. § 207.

is the exercise of all human power possessed in a state; it is a combination of all power; it is the power to do every thing in a state without accountability; to make laws, to execute and to apply them; to impose and collect taxes, and levy contributions; to make war or peace; to form treaties of alliance or of commerce with foreign nations, and the like. Story on the Const. § 207. Abstractedly, sovereignty resides in the body of the nation and belongs to the people. But these powers are generally exercised by delegation. When analyzed, sovereignty is naturally divisible into three great powers; namely, the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary; the first is the power to make new laws, and to correct and repeal the old; the second is the power to execute the laws both at home and abroad; and the last is the power to apply the laws to particular facts; to judge the disputes which arise among the citizens, and to punish crimes.—Strictly speaking in our republican forms of government, the absolute sovereignty of the nation is in the people of the nation (q. v.); and the residuary sovereignty of each state, not granted to any of its public functionaries, is in the people of the state, (q. v.) 2 Dall. 471; and vide, generally, 2 Dall. 433, 455; 3 Dall. 93; 1 Story, Const. § 208; 1 Toull. n. 20; Merl. Repert. h. t.