final decision," or more briefly "the justiciary power," being neither
legislative, executive nor judicial, but more nearly executive than
legislative, the more conservative among them considered might be
exercised, consistently with the principles of the law of nature and
of nations, either by the Legislative Assembly of the Justiciar State
or by its Chief Executive, advised by properly constituted
Administrative Tribunals or Councils; the action of the Legislative
Assembly superseding that of the Chief Executive in so far as they
might be inconsistent with each other. This right of both the
Legislative Assembly and of the Chief Executive, properly advised, to
exercise the powers of the Justiciar State--the former having supreme,
and the latter superior justiciary power,--under the law of nature and
of nations, is, I believe, also recognized by our Constitution, as I
have elsewhere attempted to show.

Of course there must be conditions of transition where the relations
between free states which would normally be in union, or between
detached portions of what would normally be a unitary state,
temporarily assume a form which is partly one of union or merger, and
partly of dependency. The justification of all such forms of
relationship must, it would seem, be found in the fundamental right
which every independent state, whether a Justiciar state or not, has
to the preservation of its existence and its leadership or
judgeship--that is, in the right of self-preservation, which, when
necessary to be invoked, overrules all other rights. On this theory
must, it would seem, be explained the relations between the American
Union and its Territories, between Germany and Alsace-Lorraine, and
between England and Ireland. On this theory of self-preservation,
also, must, it would seem, be explained the permanent relationship of
dependency which exists between the District of Columbia and the