§. 219. There is one way more whereby such a government may be dissolved, and
that is: When he who has the supreme executive power neglects and abandons that
charge, so that the laws already made can no longer be put in execution; this
is demonstratively to reduce all to anarchy, and so effectively to dissolve the
government. For laws not being made for themselves, but to be, by their
execution, the bonds of the society to keep every part of the body politic in
its due place and function. When that totally ceases, the government visibly
ceases, and the people become a confused multitude without order or connection.
Where there is no longer the administration of justice for the securing of
men's rights, nor any remaining power within the community to direct the force,
or provide for the necessities of the public, there certainly is no government
left. Where the laws cannot be executed it is all one as if there were no laws,
and a government without laws is, I suppose, a mystery in politics
inconceivable to human capacity, and inconsistent with human society.
