or body in a state is law; but he afterwards (incorrectly) retracts this opinion, and says that the legislative acts of a tyrant, the legislative acts of an oligarchy to which the bulk of the people do not consent, and the legislative acts of a democracy to which the rich do not consent, are not laws.[1]
On the other hand, the power of a sovereign government has not a greater extent than that which has been stated.
For example, it cannot suddenly augment the quantity of food in a country, except by importation from abroad, and, consequently, it cannot change scarcity into plenty, if the foreign supplies should be scanty and dear.
The power of a sovereign government is further limited to that portion of the force of the community which it is able practically to command. The question whether it is physically possible for a law to be executed, is different from the question whether a law is likely to be executed. Thus it would be physically impossible to execute a law for changing the course of the seasons, or the height of the tides. On the other hand, there are many laws which might be carried into effect with the universal consent of the community, but which a sovereign government, from the unwillingness of a large portion of the community to submit to them, would be
- ↑ Xen. Mem. Socrat. i. 2. § 41—6. Compare Le Mercier de la Rivière, Ordre Naturel et Essentiel des Sociétés politiques, ch. 15. (tom. i. p. 186): "Le pouvoir législatif n'est au fond que le pouvoir d'instituer de bonnes loix positives."
