ed, neither Congress nor the state legislatures can ruin
America. If the American people should ever consent to the removal of
these safeguards they would give evidence of their want of
self-restraint, of their unwillingness and even incapacity to govern
themselves, and would pave the way for the man on horseback as the
French Revolution paved the way for Napoleon. To deprive a single one
of his rightful liberty is to endanger the liberties of all.

CHAPTER VII

THE INTERPRETATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITATIONS
NECESSARILY A FUNCTION OF THE JUDICIARY

Under our federal and state form of government the question naturally
arises where should be lodged the power to determine whether in a
given instance either department has encroached on the proper field of
any other department, and whether either department has encroached on
the constitutional rights of the individual citizen. It should be
evident that neither the executive nor the legislative department is a
fit depositary of such power. Both these, from the nature of their
powers, are aggressive. They act of their own volition. They initiate
proceedings and measures to carry out policies. In their activities
they are apt, consciously or unconsciously, to overstep the boundary
lines between the departments and also the limits set for the
protection of the citizen against such activities. Again, questions
may and often do arise between the government and the individual
citizen that are not political questions, but are questions of private
right, the right of the individual against the government. The
disputants are the individual citizen or group of citizens on the one
hand, and the government on the other whether that government be a
monarchy, a republican or representative government, or a pure
democracy. In such case it would seem clear that one party should not
have the power to decide the question. It is an axiom that neither
party to a controversy should be the judge in the matter. The
legislature that enacts a statute claimed by a citizen to be beyond
its powers and to deprive him of some right guaranteed to him by the
constitution, should not be the judge of the question any more than
should the complaining citizen. So the executive should not be the
judge where a citizen claims it has exceeded its powers to the
detriment of his constitutional or statutory rights. Even if a statute
be enacted or ratified by the people directly, under the