  Edited by: Lalor, John J. Display paragraphs in this book
containing: First Pub. Date New York: Maynard, Merrill, and Co.
Pub. Date 977 of 1105    SOVEREIGNTY. I. The Idea of
Sovereignty. The state is the embodiment and personification of
the power of the people. The power of the people in its highest
dignity and greatest force is sovereignty.   —The word
sovereignty originated in France, and the idea of sovereignty
was for the first time developed by French science. Bodin raised
it to the dignity of the fundamental idea of public or
constitutional law. Since his time the word sovereignty and the
idea have exercised a great influence on the entire development
of the constitution of modern states as well as on politics.
—During the middle ages the expression souveraineté (suprema
potestas) was used in a still wider sense. Every board or
authority competent to give a final decision, so that an appeal
to a higher authority was impossible after such decision, was
called a sovereign board. The highest courts o