CHAPTER II.-THE EXECUTIVE
GOVERNMENT271.

$ 271. "The Executive Government."

The term government is sometimes specially used to denote the Executive authority of a political State. Strictly speaking, however, it comprehends all the organic agencies engaged in the legislative, administrative, and judicial regulation of public affairs. The Commonwealth is a united political community, composed of the people and of the States. The organization and distribution of its governing instrumentalities are determined by the Constitution. Under that instrument the political government of the Commonwealth is partitioned and divided among two separate sets of ruling organs, (1) the organs of Federal Government as provided in Chapters I., II., and III., and (2) the organs of State Governments as provided in Chapter V. The Federal Government consists of a Parliament, an Executive, and a Judiciary, and the Government of each State similarly consists of a Parliament, an Executive, and a Judiciary. Chapter I. defines the structure and power of the Federal Parliament; we now come to the consideration of Chapter II. which defines the structure and power of the Federal Executive.

The tripartite division of every government into Legislative, Executive, and Judicial departments has been already referred to and illustrated; it is a division common to and inherent in alike federal and unitarian governmental systems. In the Constitution of the Commonwealth there is a sharp distinction drawn between the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial powers, and a separate and independent organization is secured for the exercise of each. The Legislative functions of the Federal Parliament are clearly and expressly defined by the Federal Constitution; so also the Legislative functions of each State Parliament are defined in the Constitution of each State which continues in full force and effect, subject only to the Federal Constitution (secs. 106-7). The Executive functions of the Federal Government are clearly and expressly defined by the Federal Constitution; so also the Executive functions of each State Government are defined by the State Constitution and State laws founded thereon, subject only to the Federal Constitution. The Judicial powers of the Federal Courts are clearly and expressly defined by the Federal Constitution; so also the Judicial powers of the State Courts are preserved by the State Constitutions, subject only to the Federal Constitution.

The Executive authority, in the system of government established by the Federal Constitution, includes all those discretionary or mandatory acts of government which can be lawfully done or permitted by the Executive Government, in pursuance of powers vested in it, or in pursuance of duties imposed upon it partly by the Constitution and partly by Federal legislation. Generally described, the powers and duties of the Federal Executive Government relate to the execution and maintenance of the Constitution and the execution and maintenance of the laws of the Federal Parliament, passed in pursuance of the Federal Constitution.

Among the principal executive powers and functions which may be found in various sections of the Constitution may be mentioned the following, viz., the appointment of times for the holding of sessions of Parliament, the prorogation of Parliament, the dissolution of the House of Representatives, the summoning of Parliament to meet (sec. 5); the issue of writs for general elections of members of the House of Representatives (sec. 32); the transmission of messages to the Federal Parliament recommending the appropriation of revenue or money (sec. 56); the dissolution of the Senate and the