124 Political Theory: The Relationship of Man and the StateThe most basic law is the law of constitutions. Constitutions
are created for the purpose of enacting the basic law upon which
the state will rest. Constitutional law creates not just laws, but
actual government entities, rules not only for the citizens, but for
the government itself. The first three articles of the United States
Constitution create and define the role of the three branches of
the government. The first ten amendments of the United States
Constitution are substantive laws which protect some of the most
important rights citizens have. It is interesting that the average
person tends to think that the Bill of Rights give citizens such
rights as freedom of speech, press, and religious expression.
What they do, in fact, is limit the federal government from
interfering with these basic rights. They are basic laws which
define the rules under which the government will operate.
Constitutional law is difficult to enact and difficult to change;
since it is very basic law these difficulties are intentional.
Decree law is that which is the product of the action of a person
or entity with the power to promulgate law by fiat. The president
of the United States, governors of particular states, the heads of
government at many levels have this power. In the case of the
president of the United States, one of the constitutional preroga
tives he has is the power to pardon. By simple decree, he can
pardon people convicted of crimes and revoke their punish
ments. An example of decree law occurred when President
Lyndon Johnson, soon after John F. Kennedy’s death, decreed
that Cape Canaveral was to be renamed Cape Kennedy.
Legislation, earlier defined as political law, is law enacted by
a body empowered to do so, with prescribed punishments for its
violation, and is currently the most popular method of enacting
law. In America legislation accounts for the great body of law
because the philosophy and structure require it. America is a
democratic nation, and representatives legislate on behalf of the
people as part of the function of this government. Historically,
legislation is a new method as a source of law. In the past kings
enacted law by decree, theocracies used religion as the primary
source of law, custom was an important source of law, and law
changed according to new discoveries. Whatever source of law
dominates at a particular time in history, all sources come into
play and the great body of law in any society is the product of all
these forces. Law, therefore, is a result of various complex forces