45. The Form of the State and its Three Powers.
A state (civitas) is the union of a number of men under juridical
laws. These laws, as such, are to be regarded as necessary a priori-
that is, as following of themselves from the conceptions of external
right generally- and not as merely established by statute. The form of
the state is thus involved in the idea of the state, viewed as it
ought to be according to pure principles of right; and this ideal form
furnishes the normal criterion of every real union that constitutes
a commonwealth.
Every state contains in itself three powers, the universal united
will of the people being thus personified in a political triad.
These are the legislative power, the executive power, and the
judiciary power. 1. The legislative power of the sovereignty in the
state is embodied in the person of the lawgiver; 2. the executive
power is embodied in the person of the ruler who administers the
Law; and 3. the judiciary power, embodied in the person of the
judge, is the function of assigning every one what is his own,
according to the law (potestas legislatoria, rectoria, et judiciaria).
These three powers may be compared to the three propositions in a
practical syllogism: the major as the sumption laying down the
universal law of a will, the minor presenting the command applicable
to an action according to the law as the principle of the subsumption,
and the conclusion containing the sentence, or judgement of right,
in the particular case under consideration.
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