It
would even be beneath the dignity of the sovereign head of the state
to play the judge; for this would be to put himself into a position in
which it would be possible to do wrong, and thus to subject himself to
the demand for an appeal to a still higher power (a rege male
informato ad regem melius informandum).
It is by the co-operation of these three powers- the legislative,
the executive, and the judicial- that the state realizes its autonomy.
This autonomy consists in its organizing, forming, and maintaining
itself in accordance with the laws of freedom. In their union the
welfare of the state is realized. Salus reipublicae suprema lex.* By
this is not to be understood merely the individual well-being and
happiness of the citizens of the state; for- as Rousseau asserts- this
end may perhaps be more agreeably and more desirably attained in the
state of nature, or even under a despotic government. But the
welfare of the state, as its own highest good, signifies that
condition in which the greatest harmony is attained between its
constitution and the principles of right- a condition of the state
which reason by a categorical imperative makes it obligatory upon us
to strive after.
*["The health of the state is the highest law."]
Constitutional and Juridical Consequences arising from
the Nature of the Civil Union.
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