The Power to Control Law Execution

Abstract

This chapter talks about the control over the enforcement and implementation of the law that was vested in the king as the supreme executive magistrate under the British constitution as understood by constitutional framers. It mentions criminal law enforcement and the entire edifice of taxation, spending, public health, trade regulation, and other matters that made up the British state where all offenses were prosecuted in the name of the king. It also refers to James Wilson, who stated in his writing in 1774 that the king is entrusted with the direction and management of the great machine of government. The chapter reviews the Articles of Confederation, in which states performed the function of law execution, even federal law execution. It discusses the concurrence of thirteen distinct sovereign wills that is requisite under the Confederation to complete the execution of every important measure that proceeds from the Union.