Among the many functions of government, there are many so obviously necessary to the existence of a nation, however organized, that there is no discussion concerning the expediency of their exercise by the state. We may, therefore, group governmental duties under two heads: the necessary, and the optionable; or, as Professor Wilson has named them, the _Constituent_ and the _Ministrant_.[1] Under the first head is embraced all those functions which _must_ exist under every form of government; and under the second title those "undertaken, not by way of governing, but by way of advancing the general interests of society." The following is Professor Wilson's classification:
_#I. The Necessary or Constituent Functions.#_--
(1). The keeping of order and providing for the protection of persons and property from violence and robbery. (2). The fixing of the legal relations between man and wife, and between parents and children.
(3). The regulation of the holding, transmission, and interchange of property, and determination of its liabilities for debt or for crime.
(4). The determination of contract rights between individuals.
(5). The definition and punishment of crime.
(6). The administration of justice in civil causes.
(7). The determination of the political duties, privileges, and relations of citizens.
(8). Dealings of the state with foreign powers; the preservation of the state from external danger or encroachment, and the advancement of its intellectual interests.
_#II. Optional or Ministrant Functions.#_
(1). The regulation of trade and industry. Under this head we must include the coinage of money, and the establishment of standard weights and measures, laws against forestalling, engrossing, the licensing of trades, etc., as well as the great matters of tariffs, navigation laws, and the like.
(3). The maintenance of thoroughfares, including state management of railways, and that great group of undertakings which we embrace within the comprehensive terms 'Internal Improvements,' or 'The Development of the Country.'
(4). The maintenance of postal and telegraph systems, which is very similar in principle to (3).
(5). The manufacture and distribution of gas, the maintenance of water-works, &c.