THREE GENERAL CLASSES.--As a result, there are at present but three general classes into which we need subdivide the civil unit in the various States: these are the Civil District, which would include the "Beat," "Hundred," "Election Precinct," "Militia District," and numerous other classes, embracing about one half the States of the Union; the Town, which has its fullest development in the New England States; and the Township, which in some States has nearly the full development of a New England town, while in other States it has a looser organisation, approximating the civil district of the Southern and Southwestern States.
THE CIVIL DISTRICT, PROPER.
We shall treat of the various forms of the civil unit which we have classed under the general name of civil district before we speak of the town and the township, because they are simpler and much less developed, and therefore naturally constitute the simplest form of the civil unit.
NUMBER, SIZE.--In number and size, civil districts vary widely in different States and in different counties of the same State. There are rarely less than five or more than twelve districts to the county.
PURPOSES.--The division of the county into districts, each with its own court of law, brings justice to the people's doors. It secures officers to every part of the county, thus affording better means for the punishment of crimes. It provides a speedy trial for minor offences and minor suits. It aids the higher courts by relieving them of a multitude of small cases. As each district has one or more polling-places, it secures convenience to the electors in casting their votes.
GOVERNMENT.--The functions of the civil district arc judicial and executive, and lie within a narrow range. Its government possesses no legislative or corporate power whatever; it can not make a single law, however unimportant. Within a narrow jurisdiction or sphere, it applies the law to particular cases, and this is the chief purpose for its existence. Whenever the civil unit possesses more powers than are herein set forth, it is more properly described under the township in the next chapter, no matter what name it may go by locally.
CITIZENS.
The citizens of the civil district are the people residing within it. It exists for their benefit, that they may be secure in life, liberty, and property. In a certain sense they constitute the district, since its government concerns them directly, and others only remotely.
RIGHTS.--All citizens have a right to the full and equal protection of the laws. Each has a right to be secure in his person and property; to demand that the peace be preserved; to do all things according to his own will, provided he does not trespass upon the rights of others. No one in the family, in the school, in the civil district, in the county, in the State, or in the nation, has the right to do or say any thing which interferes with the life, liberty, property, or happiness of another. Any act which interferes with the rights of others is an offence against the common good and against the law. It is chiefly for the prevention and punishment of these unlawful acts that the civil district exists, with its court and its officers.
All legal voters of the district have the right to participate in its government by exercising a free choice in the selection of its officers, except in States where these officers are appointed. They have the right to cast their votes without fear or favor. This is one of the most important and sacred rights that freemen possess. Free government can not exist without it. The law guarantees it, and all the power of the State may be employed to maintain it. Therefore, whoever prevents a voter from exercising the right of suffrage does it at his own peril.