[lemma=of] | [tag=IN] □
[lemma=of] | [tag=IN] [□]
[lemma=of] | [tag=IN] □*
The wide gift of the elective franchise will be a great calamity to the whole nation , and to those who gain it as great a calamity as to any . As to the legislative power of the Crown in Colonies which are not self-governing , see further British Rule and Jurisdiction beyond the Seas , p. 95 . His Growth of the English Constitution has been to me a model ( far easier to admire than to imitate ) of the mode in which dry and even abstruse topics may be made the subject of effective and popular exposition . From each class he may learn much , but for reasons which I am about to lay before you for consideration , he is liable to be led by each class of authors somewhat astray in his attempt to ascertain the field of his labours and the mode of working it ; he will find , unless he can obtain some clue to guide his steps , that the whole province of so-called " constitutional law " is a sort of maze in which the wanderer is perplexed by unreality , by antiquarianism , and by conventionalism . Once grasp the ambiguity latent in the expression " constitutional law , " and everything connected with the subject falls so completely into its right place that a lawyer , called upon to teach or to study constitutional law as a branch of the law of England , can hardly fail to see dearly the character and scope of his subject . At the present day students of the constitution wish neither to criticise , nor to venerate , but to understand ; and a professor whose duty it is to lecture on constitutional law , must feel that he is called upon to perform the part neither of a critic nor of an apologist , nor of an eulogist , but simply of an expounder ; his duty is neither to attack nor to defend the constitution , but simply to explain its laws . But there is no single statute which is more significant either as to the theory or as to the practical working of the constitution than the Septennial Act.6 The circumstances of its enactment and the nature of the Act itself merit therefore special attention . Is it possible that so-called " constitutional law " is in reality a cross between history and custom which does not properly deserve the name of law at all , and certainly does not belong to the province of a professor called upon to learn or to teach nothing but the true indubitable law of England ? ' " / 3 / But if this means anything more than to explain what is implied by the Roman metaphors , it goes too far . Follow the directions above to find or create the DependOnService value , double click that value if it already exists , and add the Rpcss entry to the list . The Supreme Court , e.g ., of Massachusetts may be called upon to determine in effect whether a law passed by the legislature of Massachusetts is , or is not , constitutional ; and the decision of the Court will certainly meet with obedience . If , however , I insist on the fact that my book has a special aim of its own , nothing is further from my intention than to underrate the debt which I owe to the labours of the lawyers and historians who have composed works on the English constitution . You are called upon to deal partly with statute law , partly with judge-made law ; you are forced to rely on Parliamentary enactments and also on judicial decisions , on authoritative dicta , and in many cases on mere inferences drawn from judicial doctrines ; it is often difficult to discriminate between prevalent custom and acknowledged right .