Definition of DEMOCRACY in Black's Law Dictionary 4th Edition – Legal dictionary – Glossary of legal terms.
Definition of DEMOCRACY
That form of government in which the sovereign power resides in and is exercised by the whole body of free citizens, as distinguished from a monarchy, aristocracy, or oligarchy. According to the theory of a pure democracy, every citizen should partici p ate directly in the business of governing, and the legislative assembly should comprise the whole people. But the ultimate lodgment of the sovereignty being the distinguishing feature, the introduction of the representative system does not remove a government from this type. However, a government of the latter kind is sometimes specifically described as a "representative democracy."
Town form of government constitutes pure democracy as distinguished from representative government. Commonwealth v. Town of Hudson, 315 Mass. 335, 52 N.E.2d 566, 572.
Democracy is loosely used of governments in which the sovereign powers are exercised by all the people or ,a large number of them, or specifically, in modern use, of a representative government where there is equality of rights without hereditary or arbitrary differences in rank or privilege; and is distinguished from aristocracy. * * * In modern representative democracies, as the United States and France, though the governing body, that is, the electorate, is a minority of the total population, the principle on which the government is based is popular sovereignty, which distinguishes them from aristocracies. Webster's New Int.Dict.
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That's the definition of DEMOCRACY in Black's Law Dictionary 4th Edition – Legal dictionary – Glossary of legal terms. Courtesy of Cekhukum.com.
