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Federal And State Cooperation Under The Constitution, Louis W. Koenig

Michigan Law Review

Federalism, as a system of government, is peculiar in that it involves a union of several autonomous political entities for · common purposes which may be achieved through apportioning the sum total of legislative power between a "national" or "central" government, on the one hand, and constituent "states" on the other. In our own federation, a written Constitution has sought to define the functions of both these centers of government, assigning to each certain spheres of influence upon all persons and property within a given territory. At the Constitutional Convention, the committee of detail carefully listed the powers of the …