and from sixty to one hundred privates. The State furnishes the National Guard with armories and equipment, and draws an annual appropriation from the Federal Government to aid in their support. There is usually a week's encampment of State troops every second year.

In addition to the land forces there is a battalion of four divisions of naval militia at Baltimore City.

8. Court-Martial. In case of any military offence committed by a member of the National Guard, a courtmartial is held in which some of the officers sit as judges. This court decides what punishment is to be inflicted; but, except in time of war, it can do little save dismiss the offender from the service. The governor may suspend or arrest any State military officer for disobedience of orders, or other military offence, and remove him, in accordance with a decision of courtmartial. (Const. II. 15.)

CHAPTER X.

THE JUDICIARY.

1. The Judicial Power. This is the last of the three parts into which Montesquieu divided sovereignty. It is the power to apply the laws to the actions of men as members of society, and includes the great power of interpretation, or exposition, by which the court declares what the law is in any given case. The judges of the courts have sworn to enforce the Constitution and the laws made in accordance with it. If the Legislature should attempt to pass an act conflicting with the Constitution, it would not be a law, and the courts would have to say that it had no force. This is called declaring a law unconstitutional.

2. The Courts. The judicial power is exercised by a system of courts. A court is a place where justice is administered according to law, or a body which is a part of the government, and to which the public administration of justice is given. We shall chiefly use it in the second meaning. A court is an organized body with fixed powers and known officers. It is presided over by a judge, or judges, who declare the law and who may have with them a jury to take part in the giving of judgment. The court also has a clerk to keep its records, a sheriff and constables, who carry out its orders and are called ministerial officers. The

lawyers, or attorneys, who prepare the cases for trial and argue them before the courts, are also its officers. There is usually a court-crier and bailiff to proclaim that the court is in session, etc. The court sits at fixed times and places.

The courts will not

3. Case; Cause; Suit; Action. decide theoretical or imaginary points of law, nor will they give their opinion as to what is meant by the words of a law, unless there be persons whose interests are affected by the law and who bring the question before the court. Persons whose interests are not affected cannot bring any matter before a court. The questions contested before the courts of justice are known as cases. In order that there should be a case a person must have a cause of action, and must take the action in due form. A cause of action is some matter for which the law will permit the aid of the court to be sought. The action, in the legal sense of the word, means the formal demand of one's right from another person, made and insisted on in a court of justice. The word is often used in a still wider sense to cover all the proceedings in the court, following upon such a formal demand, and we thus speak of a civil or criminal action. When a person finds he has a cause of action, and makes the formal demand in the court for what is his right, he is said to bring suit. The word "suit" meant originally to follow after. It is used now in law with almost the same meaning as action. It may happen that one has been careless about bringing suit for so long a time that it would be very hard to disprove the claim that is urged. To Το

prevent such carelessness, and the wrong that it might work, certain laws have been passed, known as statutes of limitation, providing that, after a certain length of time, claims cannot be brought. The law does not aid those who sleep on their rights, but those who are watchful in enforcing them.

4. Jurisdiction-Original, Concurrent, Appellate; How Secured. A case cannot be heard by a court unless it has jurisdiction; that is, unless it has the legal authority to consider and decide the case. Jurisdiction includes the power to enforce the execution of what the court has decreed. Two men cannot agree to have their suit tried by a court, but the right to have the suit tried there must be given by law; or, in other words, jurisdiction cannot be given by consent of the parties to a suit. A court has jurisdiction over the territory, the persons, and the subjects granted to it by law, except that a law cannot give a court jurisdiction out of the territory of the lawmaking power. For example, a Maryland court cannot consider a question as to the ownership of land in Pennsylvania. A court has original jurisdiction, when a suit is brought to it in the first instance. When a suit may be brought in either of two courts, they are said to have concurrent jurisdiction. The word "concurrent" originally meant running together. When a person is dissatisfied with the decision of a court, and wishes to have another and a higher court consider the matter, the law allows him to do so in many cases. Such an action is called an appeal to the higher court, and that court is said to have appellate jurisdiction in the case.

5. Right to Use the Courts. "It must needs be that offences come." That justice be done in disputes between man and man, and that wrongdoers be punished, are two of the chief reasons for establishing courts and passing general laws. "Every man, for any injury done to him in his person or property, ought to have remedy by the course of the law of the land, and ought to have justice and right freely without sale, fully without any denial, and speedily without delay, according to the law of the land." (Dec. of R. 19.)

6. Oath or Affirmation. Before a person's testimony is taken in a court, and before any officer enters on the duty of his office, he must swear, or solemnly affirm, that he will act uprightly and truthfully. This oath, or affirmation, must be administered in the manner which his religious denomination usually considers the most effectual confirmation of his acts, by calling God to witness them. (Dec. of R. 39.) Formerly when the oath was taken the person had to kiss a Bible, which he held in his right hand. This was done away with in 1896, and it is now only necessary to hold the Bible while taking oath.

7. Court of Record. record of its proceedings, and has a seal which may be stamped on all papers issued by it to ensure their being received as genuine. The seal is said to authenticate or make authentic the paper. (Const. IV. 1.)

This is one which keeps a

8. Definition of Legal Terms. Through the long centuries in which the courts have been administering justice they have grown to use certain peculiar words and phrases, and to use certain common words