on of the
functionary. *z Lastly, if the same individual is guilty of one of
those intangible offences of which human justice has no cognizance, he
annually appears before a tribunal from which there is no appeal, which
can at once reduce him to insignificance and deprive him of his charge.
This system undoubtedly possesses great advantages, but its execution is
attended with a practical difficulty which it is important to point out.

[Footnote z: If, for instance, a township persists in refusing to name
its assessors, the Court of Sessions nominates them; and the magistrates
thus appointed are invested with the same authority as elected officers.
See the Act quoted above, February 20, 1787.]

I have already observed that the administrative tribunal, which is
called the Court of Sessions, has no right of inspection over the town
officers. It can only interfere when the conduct of a magistrate is
specially brought under its notice; and this is the delicate part of the
system. The Americans of New England are unacquainted with the office
of public prosecutor in the Court of Sessions, *a and it may readily be
perceived that it could not have been established without difficulty.
If an accusing magistrate had merely been appointed in the chief town of
each county, and if he had been unassisted by agents in the townships,
he would not have been better acquainted with what was going on in the
county than the members of the Court of Sessions. But to appoint agents
in each township would have been to centre in his person the most
formidable of powers, that of a judicial administration. Moreover,
laws are the children of habit, and nothing of the kind exists in the
legislation of England. The Americans have therefore divided the offices
of inspection and of prosecution, as well as all the other functions
of the administration. Grand jurors are bound by the law to apprise the
court to which they belong of all the misdemeanors which may have been
committed in their county. *b There are certain great offences which are
officially prosecuted by the States; *c but more frequently the task of
punishing delinquents devolves upon the fiscal officer, whose province
it is to receive the fine: thus the treasurer of the township is charged
with the prosecution of such administrative offences as fall under his
notice. But a more special appeal is made by American legislation to
the private interest of the citizen; *d and this great principle