action of the legislature. When the two houses fail to agree upon a time for adjournment, he may adjourn them until some reasonable future date. He usually possesses the great power of calling all special sessions of the legislature, although in some States it is obligatory for him to do this when a certain number of legislators desire it. Hart, Actual Gov't, § 64. Finley and American His right to veto bills is undoubtedly that of most value to The veto. the governor. As we noticed (§ 87), when a bill has been passed in both houses of the legislature, it is sent to the governor, who has usually ten days in which to affix his signature or return it with his veto. Only two of the States, Rhode Island and North Carolina, do not allow the governor to veto bills, and all except four others require a much larger majority to pass the bill the second time than the Executive, first. As it is next to impossible for both houses to obtain 72-82. these majorities when the governor has publicly expressed his disapproval of the bill, unless the feeling between the governor and legislature is most unpleasant, the wishes of the governor are likely to be considered upon any bill of importance. He is able to make his influence felt still further, as he is allowed to veto particular items in appropriation bills in nearly one half of the States. STATE OFFICIALS AND ADMINISTRATIVE BOARDS 96. The Governor's Colleagues. — In about three fourths of the Lieutenant States there is a lieutenant governor, who takes the governor's place governor. when the latter is called away from the State, or when the governor's office becomes vacant by his death or resignation. His ordinary duties consist merely in presiding over the deliberations of the state senate, during its short sessions. The Secretary of State is little more than the chief clerk of the Secretary state government. He has charge of the state seal, keeps a record of of State. all official acts of the legislative and executive departments, looks after the election returns for all state and national elections, and aids the legislators and governor when the records are to be consulted. The finances of the States are relatively less important than those Financial of the Nation and the cities. Nevertheless, several of the States find officials. Other state executive officials. Impeachment and trial. Ordinary removals. Superintendents, commissions, and boards. Hart, Actual it necessary to raise from $5,000,000 to $15,000,000 a year in order to perform their work properly. The supervision of the financial system is left to the controller, by whom every order drawn upon the treasurer must be approved, before it can be paid by the latter from the state funds. If the state government expends a large amount of money through the counties, for schools and for public institutions, the controller frequently has the right to audit the accounts of the local officials who handle state money. Among the other state executives who are usually chosen by the people, though often by the legislature or the governor, are the superintendents of public works and of public instruction, the surveyor-general and the attorney-general. The first has charge of the erection of all public buildings and such enterprises as canals and irrigation dams. The last, the attorney-general, is the legal adviser of the governor and of the legislators, and the public prosecutor in all criminal or civil suits in which the State has an interest. 97. Removal of Civil Officers of the State. All important officials connected with the executive or judicial service of the States may be removed by impeachment through the lower house of the legislature, and conviction in the state senate; most minor officials being removable by the person or the body that appointed them. To impeach a person in the house requires usually only a majority vote; but conviction cannot follow unless two thirds of the senators elected believe the official guilty of the charges brought against him. In a few States unsatisfactory or incompetent officials may be removed by the governor without using the unwieldy process of impeachment, but with few exceptions there is little opportunity to make "state" officers work in harmony with the plans of the head of the state government and practically none for securing uniform enforcement of the laws by the local officials, who, being responsible to no "state" officer, do as they or their constituents desire. 98. The State Administrative Departments. Our state governments have numerous duties to perform in overseeing the administration of state law. At the head of the school systems of the States are state superintendents and state boards of education. The regulation of the railways within any State is intrusted to a railway commission. State boards of health and of charity, state labor bureaus, and many others, constitute separate departments which aid in administering state laws. tion of As a rule, the boards in charge of these administrative Composition departments are appointed by the governor of the State for and selecterms of several years. Many of the boards are bipartisan; boards. that is, composed of an equal number of members from each of the two great political parties. In a few States, some of the boards are elected from districts. and decen In several States the general oversight of the administra- Centralized tion of the poor laws and the penal laws is intrusted to a tralized single state board of charities and correction. Much more systems. frequently the States have separate boards of charity, prison boards, commissions for the insane and others. In other words, the departments are not completely organized, or well centralized, as in the case of the national departments (§ 315) and of some city administrative departments (§ 73). To each of these distinct commissions is assigned but a single set of duties, and it makes no effort to work in harmony with the other boards which have charitable or corrective work. General References Hart, Actual Government, pp. 140-150. Bryce, The American Commonwealth, abridged ed., pp. 342–346. Goodnow, Comparative Administrative Law, I, pp. 74–82; II, pp. 1-100. Finley and Sanderson, The American Executive and Executive Methods. Questions 1. For what term is our governor elected? What are the minimum qualifications prescribed for the office? What is the salary? to call or adjourn the legisla- 2. Does the governor have the right ture? Has he the right to veto bills? mean? If he has the right to veto, what majority may pass bills over the veto? Has he the "pocket veto" (§ 332)? May he grant pardons ? 3. Is there a lieutenant governor in this State? What other elected state officials have we ? 4. When was the last gubernatorial election ? Who were the principal candidates ? Who was elected? What was his plurality? State and national courts. Baldwin, Composi tion and jurisdiction of highest court. Baldwin, Judiciary, CHAPTER VIII THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE THE SYSTEM OF COURTS 1 99. The Highest State Courts. - Our state and local gov ernments have a much larger number of duties to perform than the national government, and these duties bring them into close touch with the citizens in their everyday life. Because of this condition of affairs, almost all of the civil and criminal suits brought for trial in the United States are tried in state courts, rather than in those of the Nation. Not only are these suits begun in state tribunals, but if they do not involve points of national law, the decision of the highest state courts to which the case may be carried is final, for the case may not be appealed to any other court what soever. At the apex of every state judicial system is a single court, to which all important cases are appealed for final decision. This court has, as a rule, no original jurisdiction; that is, it considers only those cases tried first in a lower court. The number of judges in these courts is usually three, five, or seven, and they are ordinarily chosen for a long term of years by the voters of the entire State. Occasionally they are elected by the voters of districts equal in 2 1 Some of the States call the highest court the Court of Appeals, and have in addition another court for the whole State, which is known as the Supreme Court; but most of them have only one court for the entire State, the name Supreme being usually applied to this. 2 Constitutional qualifications for these positions are rare, although many of the States demand that all of the higher judges be men of " exceptional intellectual fitness." number to the number of the judges, but in six States they are appointed by the governors, and in five by the legisla tures. 100. Inferior State Courts. - For the set of courts below Intermediate courts the highest court, each State is divided into a suitable number of circuits or districts over each of which presides a court, called a circuit or district court, as the case may be. The judges are ordinarily elected by the voters of this circuit or district, and hold office on the average about six years. These courts have original jurisdiction in important cases, and try on appeal cases coming from those next lower, the county courts, whose judges are in one sense county officials, because they are elected by the voters of the counties, although the cases tried before them involve state laws more frequently than local laws. state The base of the judicial pyramid is formed by the country Lowest justices of the peace, or by the city courts, criminal and civil, courts. whose jurisdiction is of necessity wholly original and confined to minor cases or those involving local laws. Except Baldwin, in a few of the Eastern States, these judges are elected by Am. the voters of the section within which the court has juris- 126-131. diction, and, with a few notable exceptions, elections are held at least every four years. Judiciary, of the inferior As the business of the inferior state courts is more vo- Character luminous than important, each judge holds court separately, whereas in the higher courts all the judges constituting the courts. court usually sit together for the trial of cases. That all of these judges are really state officers, even when elected by Wilson, The the localities, may be shown by the statement that they are removable in most of the States by the legislatures, 1167. either through impeachment or by a majority vote of both houses. State. §§ 1147 101. The Necessity for an Upright Judiciary in a Republic. Character In a country whose political institutions are as popular of judicial duties. in character as ours, the need of an able and upright judiciary is imperative. Our judges must not only explain the |