CIVIL ADMINISTRATION. In the most general sense, equivalent to public administra tion—the conduct of the affairs of the State, or Government. or of any subordinate division there of. In a more restricted sense, the term is fre quently employed to describe the management of the municipal or non-military concerns of the State; and sometimes, more narrowly, as refer ring to the executive and judicial departments of the Government. as distinguished from the legislative. See ADMINISTRATION; and compare ADMINISTRATIVE LAW.
The principles and the methods of civil ad ministration vary greatly, from the simplicity and flexibility of patriarchal government or other personal autocracy, to the rigidity of a mod ern bureaueratic system, like that of France and Russia. and the complexity of a highly devel oped political system, like that of Great Britain and the United States. There is a general simi larity among modern civilized States in the or ganizatimi and working of the central adminis tration. The great departments of State—those having to do with foreign affairs, with the army and navy, with the collection and disbursement of national revenue. with commerce and indus try. and with the post-office—present Ito great diversity. either in funetions or in organization. The chiefs of these departments are ministers of State, the principal and authorized advisers of the Exeentive, or. as in Great iiritain, consti tide the real Executive. (See CkliESET.) Usu ally these chiefs are political and therefore temporary officers. who may conic and go with out greatly modifying, the organization and methods of their departments. Their influence is great while it lasts, but is sitort•lived: the permanent policy of the administration, as well as its methods and personnel. hieing for the most part determined by permanent officials of great experience, known as under-secretaries, assistant secretaries, bureau chiefs, etc. As these per manent officials are the persons who really con duct the work of administration, so they are, in everything but the political sense of the term, responsible for the proper conduct of the affairs of their respective departments, and, being so, they are usually unfettered in the choice of their subordinates.
In other matters, however, especially in those of purely domestic concern—as the administra tion of justice: the maintenance of the public peace; the supervision and control of religion, of morals, and of public education; the levying and collection of taxes, direct and indirect ; the conduct of elections, and the 'internal affairs' generally of the community—there is as great diversity in the organization and methods of administration as there is in the political char acter and ideals of the several States. In those countries in which the feudal and monarchical tradition is strongest. whatever the form of the government may he, not only is the civil ad ministration most highly centralized, but it is much further-reaching, more searching and ob trusive than in those countries which have more completely emancipated themselves from that tradition. This is as true of republican France as of monarchical Germany and autocratic Rus sia. In the free governments, on the other hand —as in the United States. Great Britain, and her self-governing colonies—not only is the ad ministration decentralized, and left, as largely as possible, in tlfe bands of local self-governing groups, but the genera] administration is rigidly confined to matters of general or national con cern. and is not permitted to trench upon the local concerns of the subordinate political groups of the State. In these countries, accordingly, such matters as the building and repair of roads and bridges, and the maintenance of an adequate constabulary or police force. are dealt with by the borough, parish, town, or city. and not by the State; while, in the United States, (Well the matter of public education. which is conceded to be an affair of State. and is usually governed by State statutes, is, fur the most part, turned over to the locality concerned—the city or school distriet—for administration.