ABSTRACT
The character of modern parliamentary institutions has in fact been wholly shaped by the needs of democratic government rather than by those of democratic legislation in the strict sense of the latter term. The effective direction of the whole apparatus of government, or the control of the use of all the personal and material resources placed under its supervision, demands the continuous support of the executive authority by an organized majority committed to a coherent plan of action. The ideal of a democratic control of government and that of the limitation of government by law are thus different ideals that certainly cannot be both achieved by placing into the hands of the same representative body both rule-making and governmental powers. The task of legislation proper differs from the task of constitution-making also in that it will be concerned with rules of greater generality than those contained in a constitution.
