The _civil society_ or _State_ is an assemblage of men subject to a common _authority_, to common _laws_--that is to say, a society whose members may be constrained by public force to respect their reciprocal rights. =81. The three powers.=--There results from that, that two necessary elements enter into the idea of the State: _laws_ and _force_. The laws are the general rules which establish beforehand and fix after deliberation, and abstractly, the rights of each; force is the physical restraint the public power is armed with to have the laws executed. Hence two _powers_ in the State, the _legislative_ power and the _executive_ power--one that makes the law; the other that executes it, and to which may generally be added a third, namely, _judiciary_ power, which, on its part, is empowered to apply and interpret the law.[60] =82. Sovereignty.=--These three powers emanate from a common source which is called _sovereign_. In all States, the sovereign is the authority which is in possession of the three preceding powers and delegates them. In an absolute monarchy, the sovereign is the monarch, who of himself exercises the legislative and executive power, sometimes even the judicial power. In a democracy, the sovereign is the universality of the citizens, or the _people_, which delegates the three powers, and even in some cases exercises them. As to the basis of sovereignty, two systems face each other: the _divine right_ and the _sovereignty of the people_. In the first, the authority emanates from God, who transmits it to chosen families; in the second, societies, like individuals, are free arbiters, and belong to themselves; they are answerable for their destinies; and this can only be true of the entire society; for why should certain classes rather than others have the privilege to decide about the fate of each? The sovereignty of the people is then nothing else than the right of each to participate in public power, either of himself or through his representatives. This principle tends more and more to predominate in civilized States. =83. Political liberty.=--Political liberty means all the guaranties which insure to every citizen the legitimate exercise of his natural rights; political liberty is, then, the sanction of civil liberty. The principal of these guaranties are: 1, the _right of suffrage_, which insures to every one his share of sovereignty; 2, the _separation of powers_, which puts into different hands the _executive_, _legislative_, and _judicial_ powers; 3, the _liberty of the press_, which insures the right of minorities, and allows them to employ argument to change or modify the ideas and opinions of the majority.