POLITICAL SCIENCE

BY

STEPHEN LEACOCK, B.A., PH.D.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
MCGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY

The Riverside Press, Cambridge

1906

COPYRIGHT 1906 BY STEPHEN LEACOCK

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

B

CONTENTS

PART I. — THE NATURE OF THE STATE

I. POLITICAL SCIENCE, THE THEORY OF THE STATE

1. Definition and Scope of Political Science

2. Relation to Other Sciences

3. Meaning of the State; its Essential Attributes

2222

27

31

34

35

II. THE ORIGIN OF THE STATE; FALLACIOUS THEORIES

1. Theory of the Social Contract

2. Application made of the Theory by Hobbes, Locke,

3. Criticism of the Theory

4. The Theory of Divine Origin

5. The Theory of Force

III. THE TRUE ORIGIN OF THE STATE

1. The Historical or Evolutionary View of the State

2. The Patriarchal and Matriarchal Theories

3. Course of Development: the Aristotelian Cycle

4. Military and Economic Factors.

5. Some General Features of Political Evolution

IV. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE STATE

1. Analysis of the Conception of Sovereignty; Meaning

41

3. Criticism of the Doctrine of Sovereignty; Sir Henry

71

82

86

V. THE LIBERTY OF THE INDIVIDUAL

1. Formulation of the Idea of Civil Liberty; its Depend-

ence on a Coercive Sovereign Power

2. Special Senses sometimes attached to the Term

5. Elaborate Analogies of Spencer, Schäffle, etc.; the

Personality of the State

6. Criticism.

VI. RELATION OF STATES TO ONE ANOTHER

1. External Aspect of the State; Regulation of its Con-

duct towards Other States.

2. Evolution of International Relations; First, Second,

and Third Periods

3. Scope and Content of International Law

4. Propriety of the Term

5. International Arbitration

VII. THE FORM OF THE STATE

1. The Classification of States according to their Form;

Aristotle's Divisions.

✔2. Later Classifications; Montesquieu, Rousseau, Blunt-

schli, etc.

3. Practical Classification of Existing States

4. The Constitution; Written and Unwritten Constitu-

tions

5. Origin of Written Constitutions .

6. The Distinction between States with Written and

those with Unwritten Constitutions an Illusory

Basis of Division .

7. Scope of the Constitution

8. Amendment

89

91

99

100

104

PART II. THE STRUCTURE OF THE GOVERNMENT

I. THE SEPARATION OF POWERS

1. Nature of Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Power 141

2. Theory of the Separation of Powers; Montes-

151

6. General Criticism of the Theory of the Separation of

Powers

II. THE LEGISLATURE

1. The Legislature; General Requisites, Procedure, etc. 154

2. The Bicameral System; Reasons for its Adoption

3. Composition of Upper Houses

4. Distribution of Power between the Two Houses

159

162

5. Direct Legislation; the Initiative and the Referen-

1. Concentration of Authority the First Requisite of the

Executive

181

2. Methods of Appointment; Hereditary Executives

3. Elective Executives.

2. The Relation of the Courts to the Executive and to

the Legislature

3. Administrative Law and Administrative Courts

4. The Electorate: Evolution of So-called Universal

Suffrage; the Present Suffrage in Leading Coun-

tries

218

5. Criticism of Existing Systems; the Case of Women,

of Negroes, etc.

4. Utility of the Federal Principle in effecting a Com-