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Subject Area: Law
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

§ 59.: The public duties of a citizen.— - Christopher G. Tiedeman, A Treatise on State and Federal Control of Persons and Property in the United States considered from both a Civil and Criminal Standpoint, vol. 1 [1900]

Edition used:

A Treatise on State and Federal Control of Persons and Property in the United States considered from both a Civil and Criminal Standpoint (St. Louis: The F.H. Thomas Law Book Co., 1900). Vol. 1.

Part of: A Treatise on State and Federal Control of Persons and Property in the United States considered from both a Civil and Criminal Standpoint, 2 vols.

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§ 59.

The public duties of a citizen.—

In return for the protection guaranteed to the citizen, he is required to do whatever is reasonable and necessary in support of the government and the promotion of the public welfare. It will not be necessary to enter into details, for these duties vary with a change in public exigencies. The object of taxation is treated more particularly in a subsequent section.2 The ordinary public duties of an American citizen are to assist the peace officers in preserving the public order and serving legal processes, and to obey all commands of the officers to aid in the suppression of all riots, insurrections and other breaches of the peace; to serve as jurors in the courts of justice, to perform military service in time of peace, as well as in war. It is common for the States to require its male citizens to enroll themselves in the State militia, and to receive instruction and practice in military tactics; and in time of war there can be no doubt of the power of the government to compel a citizen to take up arms in defense of the country against the attacks of an enemy, in the same manner as it may require the citizen to aid in suppressing internal disorders.3 At an earlier day, it was also a common custom to require of the citizens of a town or city the duty of assisting in the quenching of accidental fires and the prevention of conflagrations; and in some of the States (notably South Carolina) every male citizen, between certain ages, was at one time required to be an active member of a militia or fire company.1

It was also at one time the common duty of a citizen to perform, or supply at his expense, labor upon the public roads, in order to keep them in repairs.2 But this specific duty is each day becoming more uncommon, and the repairs are being made by employees of the State or municipal community, whose wages are paid out of the common fund. Indeed, the general tendency at the present day is to relieve the citizen of the duty of performing these public duties by the employment of individuals, who are specially charged with them, and perform them as a matter of business. Even in regard to the matter of military service in time of war this tendency is noticeable. Whenever a draft is made by the government for more men, and one whose name is found in the list desires to avoid the personal performance of this public duty, he is permitted to procure a substitute. The duty of acting as juror is about the only public duty, whose performance is still required to be personal, and even that is somewhat in danger of substitutive performance. The flimsy and unreasonable excuses, too often given and received for discharge from jury duty, are fast paving the way to the appointment of professional jurymen.

CHAPTER VII.

STATE REGULATION OF MORALITY AND RELIGION.

SECTION60.Crime and vice distinguished—Their relation to police power.
61.Sumptuary laws.
62.Church and State—Historical synopsis.
63.Police regulation of religion—Constitutional restrictions.
64.State control of churches and congregations.
65.Religious criticism and blasphemy distinguished.
66.Permissible limitations upon religious worship.
67.Religious discrimination in respect to admissibility of testimony.
68.Sunday laws.

[2]See post, § 160 et seq.

[3]But defensive warfare must in this connection be distinguished from offensive warfare. The duty of the citizen to repel an attack upon his country is clear, but it is certainly not considered in the United States a duty of the citizen to aid the government in the prosecution of an offensive war, instituted for the purpose of aggrandizement. But the question involves the practical difficulty of determining which party in a particular war is on the defensive, and which is the attacking party. It is not necessary for the territory of one’s country to be invaded, in order that the war may be offensive. Substantial and valuable international rights may be trespassed without a blow being struck or a foot of land invaded; and usually both parties claim to be on the defensive. But the difficulty in answering this question of fact does not affect the accuracy of the theoretic distinction, although it does take away its practical value.

[1]But it is now found to be more profitable, in combating the danger of fire in municipal life, to employ men who are specially charged with the performance of this duty. Voluntary, or unprofessional, fire departments are now to be found, in the United States, only in the villages and small towns.

[2]In Ohio, it was held that a statute, which required two days’ labor on the public roads, did not violate the provision of the State bill of rights, that there shall be no involuntary servitude in the State. Dennis v. Simon, 51 Ohio St. 233