Attempts  of  this  latter  kind  are  chiefly  to  be  feared  at
crises  of  excitement :  under  ordinary  circumstances,  there  is
no  serious  danger  of  legal  conflicts  arising  between  legislators
as  such  and  private  individuals,  in  which  the  impartiality
of  judges  might  be  strained.  The  case  is  different  with  the
executive.  As  we  have  seen,  in  order  to  maintain  the  laws
it  is  necessary  to  invest  the  executive  with  rather  extensive
powers  of  interference  with  the  liberty  and  property  of
private  citizens  :  it  is  therefore  important  for  the  security  of
the  latter  that  these  powers  should  be  exercised  as  far  as  pos-
sible under  strict  rules  and  limitations,  and  that  the  private
individuals  who  suffer  from  their  exercise  should  have  the
right  of  appealing  as  soon  as  possible  to  an  independent  and
impartial  law  court  against  any  transgression  of  these  rules.^
The  chief  constitutional  regulations  established  with  a  view
to  this  result  are,  indeed,  commonly  recognised  as  the  most
important  protections  of  civil  liberty ;  and  this  is  perhaps
the  most  convenient  place  to  give  a  brief  general  account  of
them ;  since  the  most  difficult  questions  as  to  the  structure  of
the  Judiciary  are  connected  with  its  function  of  maintaining
legal  order  against  the  guardians  of  that  order  themselves.
^  See  chap,  xxvii.  §  5.
^  On  the  question  whether  the  executive  should  have  the  right  of  suspend-
ing these  rules  in  exceptional  emergencies,  see  chap.  xxii.  §  10.
