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.
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