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II. Private Substantive Law - Continued.

C. Contracts - Continued.

2. Special Contracts - Continued.

D. Torts.

e. Insurance.

f. Vendor and Purchaser.

1. Torts Generally.

2. Particular Torts.

III. Public Adjective Law.

A. Criminal Procedure.

B. Extraordinary Remedies.

IV. Private Adjective Law.

A. Common-Law Procedure.

B. Equity Procedure.

C. Code Precedure.

PART II

THE SUBSTANTIVE LAW

CHAPTER VIII

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

§81. Written and Unwritten Constitutions.

82. The Construction of Constitutions.

83. The Essentials of a Written Constitution.

84. Administrative Law.

§ 81. Written and Unwritten Constitutions. The constitution of a State may be either written or unwritten. By a written constitution is meant one which has been formally adopted by the sovereign body and reduced to written form. An unwritten constitution is one which has never been thus formally adopted, but consists of those rules which have been habitually observed in the conduct of the government and which have been recognized by the courts as the fundamental law. The leading characteristic of a written constitution is that it is the result of definite acts of adoption on the part of the sovereign body. Its leading features are usually drawn up and approved at one particular time. The adoption of such a constitution, or a radical change in its provisions, is essentially a revolutionary act. This does not mean that a war must precede such a step. In many cases no violence has been resorted to in order to effect the change. Such an act does not necessarily involve a shifting of the sovereign power. The sovereign body may itself decide to revolutionize the institutions over which it has control. From the very nature of such a constitution, however, its adoption will invariably be the result of extreme dissatisfaction with the existing order of things, and it is therefore a revolutionary measure. A purely unwritten constitution is not known to exist at the present time, but there are several leading nations whose constitutions have never been formally adopted in their entirety. The essential feature of an unwritten constitution is that it is a growth, developing in substantially the same way as any principles of the unwritten law. Where such a constitution exists there is usually no important break in the continuity of the national institutions. It is essentially non-revolutionary.

The English constitution is the most notable example of a constitution which has not been formally adopted. The institutions of England are continuous, without radical revolutionary changes, from Saxon times. The present constitution of Germany however, is written, having been formally adopted in 1867. It is

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