e county.

PURPOSES.--The division of the county into districts, each with its own
court of law, brings justice to the people's doors. It secures
officers to every part of the county, thus affording better means for
the punishment of crimes. It provides a speedy trial for minor
offences and minor suits. It aids the higher courts by relieving them
of a multitude of small cases. As each district has one or more
polling-places, it secures convenience to the electors in casting their
votes.

GOVERNMENT.--The functions of the civil district arc judicial and
executive, and lie within a narrow range. Its government possesses no
legislative or corporate power whatever; it can not make a single law,
however unimportant. Within a narrow jurisdiction or sphere, it
applies the law to particular cases, and this is the chief purpose for
its existence. Whenever the civil unit possesses more powers than are
herein set forth, it is more properly described under the township in
the next chapter, no matter what name it may go by locally.

CITIZENS.

The citizens of the civil district are the people residing within it.
It exists for their benefit, that they may be secure in life, liberty,
and property. In a certain sense they constitute the district, since
its government concerns them directly, and others only remotely.

RIGHTS.--All citizens have a right to the full and equal protection of
the laws. Each has a right to be secure in his person and property; to
demand that the peace be preserved; to do all things according to his
own will, provided he does not trespass upon the rights of others. No
one in the family, in the school, in the civil district, in the county,
in the State, or in the nation, has the right to do or say any thing
which interferes with the life, liberty, property, or happiness of
another. Any act which interferes with the rights of others is an
offence against the common good and against the law. It is chiefly for
the prevention and punishment of these unlawful acts that the civil
district exists, with its court and its officers.

All legal voters of the district have the right to participate in its
government by exercising a free choice in the selection of its
officers, except in States where these officers are appointed. They
have the right to cast their votes without fear or favor. This is one
of the most important and sacred rights that freemen possess. Free
government can not exist witho