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Liability Of Public Officers To Private Actions For Neglect Of Official Duty, Thomas M. Cooley

Articles

A public office is a public trust.The incumbent has a property right in it, but the office is conferred, not for his benefit, but for the benefit of the political society. The duties imposed upon the officer are supposed to be capable of classification under one of three heads: the legislative, executive, or judicial; and to pertain, accordingly, to one of the three departments of the government designated by these names. But the classification cannot be very exact, and there are numerous officers who cannot be classified at all under these heads. The reason will be apparent if we name …