| n. | 1. | The quality or state of being sovereign, or of being a sovereign; the exercise of, or right to exercise, supreme power; dominion; sway; supremacy; independence; also, that which is sovereign; a sovereign state; |
| Noun | 1. | sovereignty - government free from external control |
| 2. | sovereignty - royal authority; the dominion of a monarch Synonyms: reign |
SOVEREIGNTY. The union and exercise of all human power possessed in a state;
it is a combination of all power; it is the power to do everything in a
state without accountability; to make laws, to execute and to apply them: to
impose and collect taxes, and, levy, contributions; to make war or peace; to
form treaties of alliance or of commerce with foreign nations, and the like.
Story on the Const. Sec. 207.
2. Abstractedly, sovereignty resides in the body of the nation and
belongs to the people. But these powers are generally exercised by
delegation.
3. When analysed, sovereignty is naturally divided into three great
powers; namely, the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary; the first
is the power to make new laws, and to correct and repeal the old; the second
is the power to execute the laws both at home and abroad; and the last is
the power to apply the laws to particular facts; to judge the disputes which
arise among the citizens, and to punish crimes.
4. Strictly speaking, in our republican forms of government, the
absolute sovereignty of the nation is in the people of the nation; (q.v.)
and the residuary sovereignty of each state, not granted to any of its
public functionaries, is in the people of the state. (q.v.) 2 Dall. 471; and
vide, generally, 2 Dall. 433, 455; 3 Dall. 93; 1 Story, Const. Sec. 208; 1
Toull. n. 20 Merl. Repert. h.t.