Why government function is spelled out in Constitutions

[docstrange]

A lot of constitutional (state and federal) discourse is carried out on the question of government over-reaching the powers granted to it. But powers are not the only things in there. The powers have purposes. There are also functions that are spelled-out requirements of the chartered government

Comments

[maradydd]

This is a subject near and dear to my heart, for a number of reasons. The Pennsylvania court system, for instance, is extremely overloaded, as are the district attorneys' offices, to the point where actual crimes are not being pursued (this has been affecting a friend of mine dealing with the weird intersection between family court issues and criminal court issues in the rural western part of the state, for the last several years).

The possibility that jury trials might be suspended, though, is horrific.

[unixronin]

That is indeed frightening

[maradydd]

Well, yes; and in practice this ends up meaning that those who can't afford private representation (or high-quality representation) are at a disadvantage in the system, which has been the case for, um, a while now. Far be it from me to oppose an efficient and fair system of torts; I'd even argue that Article III establishes as much about torts as it does about criminal trials ("Cases, in Law and Equity...", "...between Citizens of different States; between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States..."), with the caveat that the NH constitution, which I haven't read, may very well have more or less to say about one or the other.

And yeah, don't get me started on drug law, or the way the DEA loves to assert (dare I say arrogate?) fundamentally legislative powers and continues to nip at the heels of the judiciary.

[unixronin]

Well, yes; and in practice this ends up meaning that those who can't afford private representation (or high-quality representation) are at a disadvantage in the system
Oh yes, absolutely. As seen many, many times in lawsuits against large corporations that simply stall their opponents into bankruptcy. And I personally believe the legal principle that you can't sue the government to be prima facie absurd: The government, of all possible bodies, should never, ever be above the law. The laws that it passes should be as binding upon itself as upon anyone else, and it must be accountable for its actions.

[unixronin]

While the points the article makes are entirely sound, it also has to be said that one can't get blood out of a stone. The state has already had to borrow Federal money to cover extended unemployment benefits. Thrifty though NH is, it - like many other states - is staggering, and it doesn't have the Federal government's luxury of simply declaring new money to exist by fiat.

This is not New Hampshire's problem alone. All over the US, the legacy of decades of fiscal irresponsibility is coming home to roost, and sinking boats are pulling sound ones down with them. The official inside-the-beltway party line may be that "the recession is over", despite the fact that the economy is still bleeding jobs, but I still believe we have not seen the worst of this yet.

Afterthought:
We should also not forget that a vital purpose of a constitution is to enumerate not only the things that a government is required and authorized to do, but the things that it is explicitly forbidden to do. (However hard Congress tries to pretend otherwise and

[maradydd]

No government not of idealists will ever willingly decline power that it has the opportunity to take, nor ever willingly give up a power that it has once seized for itself whether openly or by subterfuge.

For a fascinating look into the psychology that enables this phenomenon, have you read Bob Altemeyer's The Authoritarians?

The Althing then got to keep as many laws as its members could remember and write down again in twenty-four hours.

This is pretty delightful. Do you have a source on that? I googled but came up empty.

[unixronin]

Sorry, I don't have an online source available to hand. I read it many years ago in a book on the history of the Norse culture.

[ilcylic]

Yeah, but if you tried that trick these days, you'd get a fine from the EPA.