SECRETARY OF STATE. In American law.

Title of the chief of the

executive bureau of the United States called the "Department of State." He is a
member of the cabinet, and is charged with the general administration of the
international and diplomatic affairs of the government. In many of the state
governments there is an executive officer bearing the same title and exercising
important functions.

In English law. The secretaries of state are cabinet ministers attending the
sovereign for the receipt and dispatch of letters, grants, petitions, and many of the
most important affairs of the kingdom, both foreign and domestic. There are five
principal secretaries,— one for the home department, another for foreign affairs, a
third for the colonies, a fourth for war, and a fifth for India. Wharton.

GOVERNMENT. From the Latin gubernaculum. Signifies the instrument, the

helm, whereby the ship to which the state was compared, was guided on its course
by the "gubernator" or helmsman, and in that view, the government is but an
agency of the state, distinguished as it must be in accurate thought from its
scheme and machinery of government. State v. Chase, 175 Minn. 259, 220 N.W.
951, 953.

An empire, kingdom, state or independent political community; as in the phrase,

"Compacts between independent governments."

The sovereign or supreme power in a state or nation.

The machinery by which the sovereign power in a state expresses its will and
exercises its functions; or the framework of political institutions, departments, and
offices, by means of which the executive, judicial, legislative, and administrative
business of the state is carried on.

The whole class or body of office-holders or functionaries considered in the

aggregate, upon whom devolves the executive, judicial, legislative, and
administrative business of the state. Stokes v. United States, C.C.A.Mo., 264 F.
18, 22.

In a colloquial sense, the United States or its representatives, considered as the

prosecutor in a criminal action; as in the phrase, "the government objects to the
witness."

The regulation, restraint, supervision, or control which is exercised upon the

individual members of an organized jural society by those invested with authority;
or the act of exercising supreme political power or control. Chicago, B. & Q. R.
Co. v. School Dist. No. 1 in Yuma County, 63 Colo. 159, 165 P. 260, 263.

Federal government. The government of the United States of America, as

distinguished from the governments of the several states.

Local government. The government or administration of a particular locality;

especially, the governmental authority of a municipal corporation, as a city or
county, over its local and individual affairs, exercised in virtue of power delegated
to it for that purpose by the general government of the state or nation.
Mixed government. A form of government combining some of the features of two
or all of the three primary forms, viz., monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy.

Republican government. One in which the powers of sovereignty are vested in

the people and are exercised by the people, either directly, or through
representatives chosen by the people, to whom those powers are specially
delegated. Black, Const. Law (3d Ed.) 309; In re Duncan, 139 U.S. 449, 11
S.Ct. 573, 35 L.Ed. 219; Minor v. Happersett, 21 Wall. 175, 22 L.Ed. 627.

ATTORNEY GENERAL.
American Law
The attorney general of the United States is the head of the department of justice,
appointed by the president, and a member of the cabinet. He appears in behalf of
the government in all cases in the supreme court in which the government is
interested, and gives his legal advice to the president and heads of departments
upon questions submitted to him. Act of Sept. 24, 1789 (5 U.S.C.A. §§ 291, 303,
309).

He is the chief law officer of the federal and state governments with the duty of
representing the sovereign, national or state. Johnson v. Commonwealth, ex rel.
Meredith, 291 Ky. 829, 165 S.W.2d 820, 826.

In each state also there is an attorney general, or similar officer, who appears for
the people, as in England the attorney general appears for the crown. State v.
District Court, 22 Mont. 25, 55 Pac. 916; He is the chief law officer of the state
and head of the legal department. People v. Newcomer, 284 Ill. 315, 120 N.E.
244, 247; Darling Apartment Co. v. Springer, 22 A.2d 397, 403, 25 Del. 420,
137 A.L.R. 803.

SUPREME. Superior to all other things.

SUPREME COURT. A court of high powers and extensive jurisdiction, existing

in most of the states. In some it is the official style of the chief appellate court or
court of last resort. In others (such as New York) the supreme court is a court of
general original jurisdiction, possessing also (in New York) some appellate
jurisdiction, but not the court of last resort.

Supreme court of errors. In American law. An appellate tribunal, and the court
of last resort, in the state of Connecticut.

Supreme court of the United States. The court of last resort in the federal judicial
system. It is vested by the constitution with original jurisdiction in all cases
affecting ambassadors, public ministers, and consuls, and those in which a state
is a party, and appellate jurisdiction over all other cases within the Judicial power
of the United States, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such
regulations as congress may make. Its appellate powers extend to the subordinate
federal courts, and also (in certain cases) to the supreme courts of the several
states. The court is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices.

Supreme judicial court. In American law. An appellate tribunal, and the court of
last resort, in the states of Maine and Massachusetts.
SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE. The court formed by the English
judicature act, 1873, (as modified by the judicature act, 1875, the appellate
jurisdiction act, 1876, and the judicature acts of 1877, 1879, and 1881,) in
substitution for the various superior courts of law, equity, admiralty, probate,
and divorce, existing when the act was passed, including the court of appeal in
chancery and bankruptcy, and the exchequer chamber. It consists of two
permanent divisions, viz., a court of original jurisdiction, called the "high court of
justice," and a court of appellate jurisdiction, called the "court of appeal." Its title
of "supreme" is now a misnomer, as the superior appellate jurisdiction of the
house of lords and privy council, which was originally intended . to be transferred
to it, has been allowed to remain. Sweet.

High Court of Justice

That branch of the English supreme court of judicature (q. v.) which exercises (1)
the original jurisdiction formerly exercised by the court of chancery, the courts of
queen's bench, common pleas, and exchequer, the courts of probate, divorce, and
admiralty, the court of common pleas at Lancaster, the court of pleas at Durham,
and the courts of tile judges or commissioners of assize; and (2) the appellate
jurisdiction of such of those courts as heard appeals from inferior courts.
Judicature act, 1873, § 16.

SUPREME POWER. The highest authority in a state, all other powers in it being
inferior thereto. State ex rel. Hartley v. Clausen, 146 Wash. 588, 264 P. 403,
405.