Elements of Civil Government | Page 9

in some they are appointed.
The term of office is usually the same as that of the justice in the same
State.
DUTIES.--The constable is termed a ministerial officer because it is his
duty to minister to, or wait upon, the justice's court. He serves warrants,
writs, and other processes of the justice, and sometimes those of higher
courts. He preserves the public peace, makes arrests for its violation,
and in some States collects the taxes apportioned to his civil district.
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
1. In what respect does civil government differ from family or school
government?

2. Why does the government of the civil district concern its people
directly and others remotely?
3. What is meant by the civil unit? By what names is it known in the
various States?
4. What are the three general classes under which the civil unit may be
considered?
5. Why can not free government exist without the right to vote?
6. Why should the people try to secure their rights through the law?
7. What is the purpose of the subdivision of a county into districts?
8. Define in general terms the rights and duties of the citizens of civil
districts.
9. By what other names are justices of the peace sometimes called?
10. Why is the jurisdiction of a justice's court limited?
11. Who are the justices of this civil district?
12. When elected, and what is their term of office?
13. Who is constable of this district?
QUESTION FOR DEBATE.
Resolved, That the government of the civil district should have a
legislative department.
CHAPTER IV.
THE TOWNSHIP OR TOWN.
INTRODUCTION.--We have learned that in the Southern States the
civil unit under various names may be described under the common

name of the civil district; that in the New England States it is called the
town, and in many of the Western States it is known as the township.
As the powers and functions of the town and the township are the same
in kind, differing only in extent, and as the two names are so often used,
the one for the other, we shall consider both under the head of the
township.
As a rule, the township possesses more extensive governmental
functions in the Eastern than in the Western States, and in the West it
possesses functions much more extensive than those of the civil district
in the South. Many of the most important powers that belong to the
county in the Southern States belong to the township in the Eastern and
the Western States.
FORMATION.--In the Eastern States the townships were formed in the
first settlement of the country, and afterward a number of townships
were combined to form the county. In the Western States the townships
were surveyed, and their boundaries marked, by agents of the general
government, before the Territories became States of the Union. As a
natural result, the townships of the Eastern States are irregular in shape
and size, while those of the Western States have a regular form, each
being about six miles square. In the Western States the township is
usually composed of thirty-six sections, each section being one mile
square, and containing six hundred and forty acres of land.
PURPOSES.--It is an old and true maxim that government should be
brought as near the people as possible. This the township system does.
In our country all power resides in the people, and the township
provides a convenient means of ascertaining their wishes and of
executing their will. The farther away the government, the less will be
the people's power; the nearer the government, the greater will be the
people's power. The township system enables each community to
attend to its own local affairs--a work which no other agency can do so
well--to remove readily and speedily its local public grievances, and to
obtain readily and speedily its local public needs.

CITIZENS.
The citizens of the township are the people living in it, whether native
or foreigners who have become citizens. It exists for their benefit, to
afford them a means of securing their rights and of redressing their
wrongs. It is these persons that the law has in view when setting forth
the privileges and immunities of citizenship.
RIGHTS.--All citizens of the township arc entitled to enjoy the rights
of "life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness." The township
government exists for the purpose of securing these rights to the people.
All have equal claims to the fullest protection of the law. They may use
their own property as they choose, and do whatever pleases them, so
long as they do not interfere with the rights of others. Whenever one's
act, speech, or property interferes with the rights of others, he falls
under the censure of the law and becomes subject to its penalty.
All