be once embodied in a state constitution, it will be
likely to have some permanence. Moreover, a direct vote by the people
gives a weightier sanction to a law than a vote in the legislature.
There is also, no doubt, a disposition to distrust legislatures and in
some measure do their work for them by direct popular enactment. For
such reasons some recent state constitutions have come almost to
resemble bodies of statutes. Mr. Woodrow Wilson suggestively compares
this kind of popular legislation with the Swiss practice known as the
_Referendum_; in most of the Swiss cantons an important act of
the legislature does not acquire the force of law until it has been
_referred_ to the people and voted on by them. "The objections
to the, _referendum_," says Mr. Wilson, "are, of course, that it
assumes a discriminating judgment and a fullness of information on the
part of the people touching questions of public policy which they do
not often possess, and that it lowers the sense of responsibility on
the part of legislators." [8] Another serious objection to our recent
practice is that it tends to confuse the very valuable distinction
between a constitution and a body of statutes, to necessitate a
frequent revision of constitutions, and to increase the cumbrousness
of law-making. It would, however, be premature at the present time to
pronounce confidently upon a practice of such recent origin. It is
clear that its tendency is extremely democratic, and that it implies
a high standard of general intelligence and independence among the
people. If the evils of the practice are found to outweigh its
benefits, it will doubtless fall into disfavour.

[Footnote 7: See Henry Hitchcock's admirable monograph, _American
State Constitutions_, p. 19.]

[Footnote 8: Wilson. The State, p. 490.]

QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT. What is to be said with regard to the following
topics?

I. A power above the legislature:--

a. The constitution.
b. The relation of the courts to laws that violate the constitution.
c. The importance of this relation.
d. The American origin of the written constitution.

2. The germs of the idea of a written constitution:--

a. The theory of a "social contract."
b. The objection to this theory.
c. Roman origin of the idea of contract.

3. Mediaeval charters:--

a. The charter of a town.
b. The word _charter_.
c. Magna Charta.
d. The difference between a charter and a constitution.
e. The for