Chapter XIII

In a properly functioning commonwealth, the legislative is the one supreme power to which all others are subordinate.

The legislative holds only a fiduciary power given for certain ends, so it is limited by those ends and forfeits its trust when neglecting or opposing them.

When the legislative breaches its trust, power devolves back to the people who gave it, and they may place it anew where they see fit.

The community perpetually retains a supreme power to save itself from any threats, including from its own legislators, by removing those who act against liberties and properties.

No man or society can surrender their preservation or means of it to another's absolute will; they always retain the right to resist being brought into slavery.

People entered society to preserve the fundamental law of self-preservation, and have the right to remove those who invade this unalterable law.

The people can be called supreme in their ultimate power, but only when government is dissolved, not as considered under any form of government.

While government exists, the legislative is supreme because it alone has the power to make laws for all members of society and prescribe rules and punishments.

In some commonwealths where the executive is a single person with a share in the legislative, that person may be called supreme in the sense of having supreme execution, though not supreme law-making power.

Oaths are taken not to the executive as supreme legislator but as executor of law; when he violates law and acts by private will, he loses all right to obedience.

The executive has no will or power except that given by law, and when he quits the public representation and acts privately, he degrades to a private person without authority.

An executive power not vested in someone with legislative authority is clearly subordinate and accountable to the legislative and may be changed at pleasure.

When the executive has a share in the legislative and no distinct superior to whom he must answer, he is only subordinate to the extent he consents, which will be very little.

All other ministerial and subordinate powers in a commonwealth have authority only by positive grant and commission, and are accountable to some other power.

The legislative does not need to be constantly in being since there is not always need for new laws, only for execution of existing ones.

The executive power must always exist because there is a constant need to execute the laws that have been made.

The legislative retains the power to resume execution of laws from the executive's hands and to punish maladministration against the laws.

Both the federative power and executive power are ministerial and subordinate to the legislative, which is supreme in a constituted commonwealth.

The legislative may assemble and exercise its power at times appointed by the original constitution, by their own adjournment, or whenever they please if no time is prescribed.

When the legislature consists of representatives chosen for a time who later return to ordinary status with no legislative share except upon new election, the power of choosing must be exercised by the people.

The power of convoking the legislative is ordinarily placed in the executive, with limitations either by fixed constitutional intervals or by executive prudence to call them when public needs require.

If the executive uses force to prevent the legislative from meeting when required by constitution or public exigency, this is a state of war and the people have the right to reinstate their legislative.

Force without authority puts the aggressor in a state of war and makes opposing force legitimate; the true remedy for unlawful force is to oppose it with force.

The executive's power to assemble and dismiss the legislature is a fiduciary trust placed in him for the people's safety, not a mark of superiority.

Because future events are unknowable and human affairs constantly change, the framers could not set fixed periods for legislative assemblies that would suit all times.

Constant and long legislative sessions without necessity would be burdensome and produce dangerous inconveniences, yet emergencies sometimes require quick convening.

The executive, who is always present and must watch over the public good, is the most appropriate person to be entrusted with deciding when to convene the legislature.

Though the executive has the prerogative to convoke and dissolve the legislature, this power is exercised only for public weal, not arbitrary pleasure, and does not make him superior.

Over time, populations and wealth shift, causing the representation in government to become very unequal, with some depopulated towns sending as many representatives as populous counties.

Because the legislative constitution is the original supreme act depending wholly on the people, and no inferior power can alter it, this inequality seems incapable of remedy once government is constituted.

The principle that the welfare of the people is the supreme law is so just and fundamental that one who follows it sincerely cannot dangerously err.

The executive, using prerogative power to correct representation by reason rather than custom, restores the true legislative order and rectifies disorders caused by time's succession.

Whoever brings representation nearest to fair and equal terms will have the people's consent and approbation, being an undoubted friend to the government.

Prerogative is the power in the prince's hands to provide for the public good in cases that cannot be safely directed by certain and unalterable laws.

Whatever is done manifestly for the people's good and for establishing government on true foundations is and always will be just prerogative.

The power to erect new corporations and representatives presupposes that representation may change over time, with some places gaining or losing the right based on their significance.

A change in representation is wrong only if it tends to injure or oppress the people or set up one part above others; changes for societal advantage are always justified.

When people choose representatives on just and equal measures suitable to the original frame of government, this is the society's will and act regardless of who initiated it.