officials, some of whom owe their appointment to
personal influence, others to real ability. The civil officials with
which the public is most familiar are postal employees, officers of
the federal courts, and revenue officials. Such persons usually hold
office while their party is in power or during good behavior. Long
tenure of office tends to conservative measures and the spirit of
bureaucracy, while a system by which civil office is regarded as party
spoil tends to corruption and inefficiency. The business of
administration is becoming increasingly important in the modern state.

339. =The Judicial System.=--There is always danger that law may be
misinterpreted or prove unconstitutional. It is the function of the
judicial department of government to make decisions, interpreting and
applying the law of the nation in particular cases brought before the
courts. The law of the nation is superior to all local or sectional
law; so is the national judiciary supreme in its authority and
national in its jurisdiction. The judicial system of the United States
includes a series of courts from the lowest district courts, which are
located throughout the country, to the Supreme Court in Washington,
which deals with the most momentous questions of national law. In the
United States the judicial system is complicated by a system of lesser
courts, State and local, independent of federal control, attached to
which is a body of police, numerous judges, juries, and lawyers; the
higher courts also have their justices and practising lawyers, but
there is less haste and confusion and greater dignity and ability
displayed. There has been much criticism in recent years of antiquated
forms of procedure, cumbrous precedent, and unfair use of
technicalities for the defeat of justice, but however imperfect
judicial practice may be, the system is well intrenched and is not
likely to be changed materially.

340. =The Relation of National to District Governments.=--In some
nations there are survivals of older political divisions which once
possessed sovereignty, but which have sacrificed most, if not all, of
it for the larger good. This is the case in such federal states as the
German Empire, Switzerland, and the United States. Each State in the
American nation retains its own departments of government, and so has
its governor and heads of departments, its two-chambered legislature,
and its State judiciary. State law and State courts are more fa