Page:The Galaxy, Volume 5.djvu/499

Rh Constitution, we shall discover that the separation of functions is not thus perfect; that the several departments are not thus absolutely independent of each other. Indeed, such an ideal independence is impracticable. While the classes of function's committed to the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary may be generally or in the mass distinct, there must be, in the very nature of things, some points of contact, some overlapping, some commingling. AH this threefold machinery tends toward one object—the creation and protection of legal rights, and the creation and enforcement of legal duties. It is impossible to keep the lines of communication perfectly separate until they meet in the very point at which they are directed. How much of this intermingling shall be permitted will, of course, depend upon the opinions and convictions of those who frame and adopt a form of government. We do not admit as much as is found in the British constitution. It cannot be denied that the government is stronger, more compact and harmonious, from these partial interferences of the various departments. The problem presented to the people was, to frame a constitution which secured the largest amount of liberty with a sufficient degree of strength and unity in the entire administration to maintain and perpetuate our free institutions. A perfect ideal, therefore, had to give way to some practical necessities.

Although the Constitution, in its general language, vests the legislative power in a Congress which is declared to consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives, yet a reference to other portions of the organic law shows that this Congress does not, in fact, possess the sole legislative function. No law can be passed without the consent of the Executive, unless two-thirds of both houses shall finally concur therein. The assent of the President is as necessary to the enactment of any measure having the nature of law, as that of a majority of both branches of Congress. In this the President legislates. His affirmative or negative decision is a step in the process of creating, and not of executing, laws. By virtue of the various provisions of the Constitution, the Congress is, in fact, though not formally and in terms, composed of three distinct bodies—President, Senate and House of Representatives; and all must concur, with the single exception just noticed that a two-thirds vote of both the other branches avails against the dissent of the Executive. But the legislative function of the President is in every way inferior to that held by the Senate and by the House of Representatives. This inferiority consists, first, in the fact that his negative vote may be overruled by two-thirds of the Congress, or, in other words, that a majority of two-thirds practically dispenses with his concurrence; and, secondly, in the fact that the President cannot originate any legislative measure.