Alexander Hamilton, the renowned author of many of the Federalist Papers that set out the rationale for adopting the US Constitution, had no doubt about the relative weight of the three great powers of state. In Federalist No. 78, he wrote that the executive commands ``the power of the sword,'' thus the instrument of legitimate violence. The legislature commands the ``power of the purse'' and so makes all the rules. But the judiciary ``has no influence over either the sword or the purse,'' it has ``neither Force nor Will, but merely judgement,'' making it ``beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments in power.''
Alexander Hamilton, the renowned author of many of the Federalist Papers that set out the rationale for adopting the US Constitution, had no doubt about the relative weight of the three great powers of state. In Federalist No. 78, he wrote that the executive commands ``the power of the sword,'' thus the instrument of legitimate violence. The legislature commands the ``power of the purse'' and so makes all the rules. But the judiciary ``has no influence over either the sword or the purse,'' it has ``neither Force nor Will, but merely judgement,'' making it ``beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments in power.''