It is to be observed that this general acceptance by the States of the principle of the separation of powers is not one forced upon them by federal law,5 except in so far as the prohibition of the Fourteenth Amendment with reference to the depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law is concerned or possibly, in extreme cases, where it might be held that the government is not republican in form. Nor, as we shall later see, do the distributing clauses in the state constitutions operate to prevent the consolidation of judicial, executive, and legislative powers in local government organs.6

4 For these and other quotations see the valuable work of Dr. Bondy, The Separation of Powers.

5 For an early statement of this see Calder v. Bull, 3 Dall. 386; 1 L. ed. 648.