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of some act under a penalty. In such cases it is necessary that it should describe the offense with certainty, and also it must fix the penalty with precision, and not leave its measure to the discretion of any officer. For instance, where an ordinance provided that for a certain offense the offender might be fined by the mayor not more than five dollars, it was held that the ordinance was void be cause the amount of the fine was not fixed and definite; though it might have been valid if the ordinance had imposed a fine of a certain amount, with power in the mayor to remit a portion thereof in his discretion." A city ordinance providing for grading and macadamizing a street is not void for uncertainty because the specifications for the work are not embodied in the ordinance, they be ing referred to as on file in the office of the city clerk.45 Delegation of Power.

A general rule of constitutional law prohibits the delegation of legislative power. But it is not regarded as a violation of this rule for the legislature, in creating municipal corporations, to invest them with appropriate powers of legislation for the due administration of the affairs of the municipality. But no such principle will justify the municipal authorities in attempting to make a delegation of the powers confided to them. All such powers as are essentially legisla tive in their nature must be exercised by the municipality itself or its duly authorized agents and officers pointed out by law. No such power can lawfully be turned over to the discretion of a private person, or to any officer or board of officers not authorized by the charter to exercise it.

44 State v. Cainan, 94 N. C. 883.

48 Becker v. City of Washington, 94 Mo. 375, 7 S. W. 291.

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193. With respect to the constitution of civil society, and in the sense in which the term is used in public law, "rights" are powers of free action.

194. Rights are classified as

(a) Natural.

(b) Civil.

(c) Political.

Some rights are created by law, but others exist antecedently and independently of law. The latter class includes such rights as belong to a man merely in virtue of his personality. His existence as an individual human being, clothed with certain attributes, invested with certain capacities, adapted to a certain kind of life,

and possessing a certain moral and physical nature, entitles him, without the aid of law, to such rights as are necessary to enable him to continue his existence, develop his faculties, pursue and achieve his destiny. But some other rights are the offspring of law. They imply not only an individual but a state. They are not grounded alone in personality, but in an organized society with certain juristic notions. Still others add to these pre-requisites the

idea of a participation in government or in the making of laws. We perceive, therefore, that for the purposes of constitutional law, rights are of three kinds. They may be classified as natural, civil, and political rights.

Natural Rights.

It was formerly the custom to use this term as designating certain rights which were supposed to belong to man by the "law of nature" or "in a state of nature." But clearer modern thought

has shown that the "state of nature" assumed by the older writers is historically unverifiable and inadequate to account for the origin of rights. Even in savagery there is a rudimentary state. law of physical nature recognizes no equality of rights; its rule is the survival of the fittest. In a state of nature, such as was once supposed, there could be no right but might, no liberty but the superiority of force and cunning. In reality, the only true state of nature is a civil state, or at least a social state. But it is permissible to use the phrase "natural rights" as descriptive of those rights which grow out of the nature of man and depend upon personality, as distinguished from such as are created by law and depend upon civilized society. An example of these natural rights is the right to life.

Civil Rights.

But since organized society is the natural state of man, and not an accident, it follows that natural rights must be taken under the protection of law, and although they owe to the law neither their existence nor their sacredness, yet they are effective only when recognized and sanctioned by law. Civil rights therefore will include natural rights, as the same are taken into the sphere of law. But there are also civil rights which are not natural rights. Thus, the right of trial by jury is not founded in the nature of man, nor does it depend upon personality. But it comes within the definition

of civil rights, which are the rights secured by the constitution of any given state or country to all its citizens or to all its inhabitants, and not connected with the organization or administration of gov ernment. Hence it appears that while the term "civil rights" is broader than "natural rights," and indeed includes it, there are important differences between those civil rights which are properly described as "natural" and those which are not. Natural rights are the same all the world over, though they may not be given the fullest recognition under all governments. Civil rights which are not natural rights will vary in different states or countries.

Political Rights.

Political rights are such rights as have relation to the participation of the individual, direct or indirect, in the establishment or administration of government. For example, the right of citizenship, that of suffrage, the right to petition government for a redress of grievances, the right of free criticism of public officers and government measures, are political rights. They are not natural rights in any sense, since they owe their existence entirely to law. They are civil rights in a qualified sense, since they concern the citizen in his relations with other citizens, but only in respect to the adminis tration of the state. But they are best considered as a separate class. Political rights vary in different countries even more widely than civil rights. Under a despotism they scarcely exist. In our own country they have reached their maximum.1

OF LIBERTY.

195. Liberty, whether natural, civil, or political, is the lawful power in the individual to exercise his corresponding rights. It is greatly favored in law. But it is restrained by the rights of the state and by the equal rights of all other individuals living under the same government.

1 The natural rights of a citizen are inalienable, and no law, restrictive or prohibitory, of those rights can be passed by the legislature or the people of the state. But a political right stands on a different footing, and may be extended or recalled at the will of the sovereign power. Ridley v. Sherbrook, 8 Cold. (Tenn.) 569.

As rights are powers of free action, it follows that liberty must be the power in the possessor of rights to make them available and effective, without extraneous hindrance or control except such as may be imposed by lawful measures. And as rights are divided into natural, civil, and political, the different kinds of liberty must be subject to the same classification. Natural liberty is not correctly described as that which might pertain to man in a state of complete isolation from his fellows. But it is the liberty to enjoy and protect those rights which appertain to his nature as a human being living in society with his kind. Civil liberty is the power to make available and to defend (under the sanctions of law) those rights which concern the relations of citizen with citizen and which are recognized and secured by the fundamental law of the state. Political liberty embraces the right to participate in the making and administration of the laws.

"In favor of life, liberty, and innocence," says the maxim, "all presumptions are to be indulged." According to Bracton, "liberty does not admit of estimation," that is, it cannot be valued or priced; it is invaluable. Such also were the doctrines of the Roman law. "Libertas inestimabilis res est," we read in the Digest. And again, "Libertas omnibus rebus favorabilior."

But although liberty is thus the foundation of rightful government, and is under the special favor and protection of law, it does not follow that it is unregulated by law. In an organized civic society, living under the dominion of law, liberty is something very different from mere license. The state has the right to take measures essential to its own health and preservation, and to enact regulations for the dealings of citizen with citizen. And rights must be exercised in accordance with these laws. By them liberty is not so much restricted as defined. Liberty is marked out, on the one side, by the reciprocal duties of government and subject, and on the other side, by the co-existence in all of equal rights. The state has a right to maintain its own existence. And for that reason it is not within the rightful freedom of any individual to subvert the government, and treason may be punished by law. For the same reason, the private right of property is subject to the condition that all persons shall contribute of their property to the support of the state.

The state exists on condition that it shall assure to each

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