Note 421 — Chapter X · THE LAW OF LIMITATIONS

As sovereignty is a unit, any examination of particular aspects of it must be but a partial examination of its operations. The Constitution of the United States is a unit, in so far as the sovereignty,—the people of the United States,—have made it the expression of their plan of government. It follows that close examination of any department or feature of the Constitution as a plan of government discloses that feature in relation with other features; the Constitution is an expression of a mass of relations. Thus it is that a decision of the Supreme Court may relate to several matters, seemingly without relation, but necessarily co-related. The present chapter on The Law of Limitations discusses executive, legislative, and judiciary and the principles of government by which it acts. The entire subject of American constitutional law must be viewed as a whole. See Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Co., 158 U. S., 601 (1895); Field v. Clark, 143 U. S., 649 (1892). Also The Federalist, Nos. xliv.-lvi.