The Referendum in America, Vol. 4: A Discussion of Law-Making by Popular Vote (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from The Referendum in America, Vol. 4: A Discussion of Law-Making by Popular Vote

In the other cantons two kinds Of Referendum are distinguishable - the compulsory and the optional. The compulsory Referendum is one made Obligatory by the cantonal constitution, according to which laws cannot go into effect until ratified at the polls by the people. The Optional Referendum is one in which there is no element of obligation, the act of submission only taking place if the people desire it. Ifa certain number of signatures of voting citizens are not received within a specified time after the representative legislature approves a law, it goes into force without an expression of the popular will.

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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Referendum in America, Vol. 4: A Discussion of Law-Making by Popular Vote

It is the author's purpose in this volume, to make an investigation into the origin and growth in the United States of that popular governmental principle known in Switzerland as the Referendum. As it occurs in Switzerland it has, in the last few years, received a large amount of attention from constitutional Observers everywhere, and the institution has been looked upon as a peculiar feature of the Swiss system. It has been studied by Englishmen and Americans as a suz gmerz's, and many, who have staked their hopes upon it, as a useful political reform, have advised that it be adopted in this country. It is to be shown in this volume, that in America, we have already had much experience with the Referendum, and that, in every State Of the Union, in the county, the city, the township and the school-district, we employ, and in New England, have employed, since the Revolution, this same popular political principle.

The Referendum may be defined as the submission Of laws, whether in the form Of statute or constitution, to the voting citizens for their ratification or rejection, these laws first having been (passed upon by the people's representatives, assembled in legislature or convention. By a narrower definition the name might be held to apply only to laws submitted by a legislature, but the people, when they vote upon a constitution or an amendment to a constitution, are engaged in what is quite as much a legislative act as voting on a statute law, and especially is this so in our American States, at the present time, since the framers Of constitutions have enlarged the concept, and, therefore, altered the nature of the term constitution.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.