FUNCTIONS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT.
It is the function of government to preserve rights and enforce the performance of duties. Rights and duties are co-relative. Rights imply duties, and duties imply rights. The right inhering in the party of the first part imposes a duty on the party of the second part. The right and its co-relative duty are inseparable parts of a relation that must be maintained by government; and the relations which governments are established to maintain may be treated under the general head of rights.
In Wyandot government these rights may be classed as follows:
- First—Rights of marriage.
- Second—Rights to names.
- Third—Rights to personal adornments.
- Fourth—Rights of order in encampments and migrations.
- Fifth—Rights of property.
- Sixth—Rights of person.
- Seventh—Rights of community.
- Eighth—Rights of religion.
To maintain rights, rules of conduct are established, not by formal enactment, but by regulated usage. Such custom-made laws may be called regulations.