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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 2019 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution

Executive Order 2019—To Require Security for Costs in Civil Cases in the Canal Zone

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Friday, August 14, 1914
•
3 min read (671 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (671 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

I hereby establish the following order in the Canal Zone: Section 1.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 Art. I §8: Delegated Tariff & Commerce Execution
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

Signed by President Woodrow Wilson on August 14, 1914, this order concerns To Require Security for Costs in Civil Cases in the Canal Zone. I hereby establish the following order in the Canal Zone: Section 1. The plantiff in any civil suit, or special proceeding, may be ruled to give security for the costs upon motion of the defendant, or of any officer of the court interested in the costs accruing in such suit; and if such rule be entered against the plaintiff, and he fail to comply therewith, within the time prescribed by the court or judge thereof…

Constitutional Assessment: This action represents an orderly exercise of Article II administrative discretion, managing the internal machinery and personnel of the executive branch without abridging the ancient liberties of the people.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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I hereby establish the following order in the Canal Zone: Section 1.

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The plantiff in any civil suit, or special proceeding, may be ruled to give security for the costs upon motion of the defendant, or of any officer of the court interested in the costs accruing in such suit; and if such rule be entered against the plaintiff, and he fail to comply therewith, within the time prescribed by the court or judge thereof, the suit shall be dismissed.

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A new or additional undertaking may be ordered within such time as the court or judge may prescribe, upon proof that the original undertaking is insufficient security, and failure on the part of the plaintiff to comply with the order of the court, or judge, within the time prescribed, shall cause the dismissal of the suit.

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This section shall apply to suits in the magistrates' courts, as well as in the district court.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

Policy Areas & Topics

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The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority)
§

"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
AH

Alexander Hamilton

The Energetic Executive & Unified Command

"The direction of war implies the direction of the common strength; and the power of directing and employing the common strength must be under the direction of the single hand of the Executive." — Federalist No. 74 (1788)

Hamilton would forcefully champion executive discretion here. For foreign entanglements, commerce defense, and national security, deliberative assemblies are too slow and faction-ridden. A unified, energetic Executive exercising swift command is precisely what the Philadelphia Convention intended for national preservation.

Hamiltonian Stance: Supportive of Execution
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The president will be surrounded by flatterers and sycophants... and the great powers of the executive will gradually absorb the liberties of the people." — Cato IV (Anti-Federalist, 1787)

The Anti-Federalist prism advises continuous democratic vigilance. Even routine administrative directives aggregate centralized federal power away from town halls and state assemblies toward a distant executive apparatus.

Anti-Federalist Stance: Eternal Vigilance Required
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Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions

An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
31 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Moderate Friction

Administers commerce or fiscal programs requiring ongoing statutory delegation and legislative oversight.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Low Friction

Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

Moderate Friction

Engages state and local partners in cooperative federalism programs.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Low Friction

Focuses on internal governmental operations with no direct impairment of private rights or property.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.

Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
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How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
671
3,758 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
18.6
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me, I hereby establish the following order in the Canal Zone:

Section 1. #sec-1

The plantiff in any civil suit, or special proceeding, may be ruled to give security for the costs upon motion of the defendant, or of any officer of the court interested in the costs accruing in such suit; and if such rule be entered against the plaintiff, and he fail to comply therewith, within the time prescribed by the court or judge thereof, the suit shall be dismissed. A new or additional undertaking may be ordered within such time as the court or judge may prescribe, upon proof that the original undertaking is insufficient security, and failure on the part of the plaintiff to comply with the order of the court, or judge, within the time prescribed, shall cause the dismissal of the suit. This section shall apply to suits in the magistrates' courts, as well as in the district court. The security for costs required by this section may consist of a money deposit, bond of a surety company, or cost bond with two or more good and sufficient sureties; the form of such security to be determined by the judge or magistrate of the court before whom the proceedings are pending.

Section 2. #sec-2

All bonds given as security for costs shall authorize judgment against all of the obligors of said bonds for such costs, to be entered in the final judgment of the case or special proceedings.

Section 3. #sec-3

Any party to a suit, who is required to give security for costs, may file with the secretary, or his assistant, or with the magistrate, as the case may be, an affidavit to the effect that he is too poor to pay the costs of the court, and is unable to give security therefor. The secretary of the district court, or his assistant, or the magistrate, as the case may be, may contest the inability of the party to pay the costs, or his inability to give security for the same, the contest to be tried before the judge of the district court in cases pending in that court, and before the magistrate in cases pending in one of the magistrates' courts; and the contest shall be heard at such time as the court or magistrate may determine. If no contest is made upon the affidavit, or if the same is admitted by the court or magistrate after the contest, it shall be the duty of the officers of the court thereafter to issue and serve all processes and perform all duties on behalf of such party as in other cases.

Section 4. #sec-4

The public administrator, and executors, administrators and guardians appointed by the courts of the Canal Zone shall not be required to give security for costs in any suit brought by them in their fiduciary character.

Section 5. #sec-5

No security for costs shall be required of The United States, The Panama Canal, The Canal Zone Government, or any of its dependencies.

Section 6. #sec-6

The provisions of this order, relating to security for costs, shall apply to an intervenor; and shall also apply to a defendant who seeks a judgment against the plaintiff on a counter-claim, after the defendant shall have discontinued his suit.

Section 7. #sec-7

When the costs are secured by the provisions of an attachment or other bond, filed by the party required to give security for costs, no further security shall be required.

Section 8. #sec-8

All laws, orders and decrees, or parts thereof, in conflict with this order, are hereby repealed, provided, that this order shall not be construed to impair the power conferred upon the courts in respect to costs by Article III of the Executive Order of September 29, 1911, "To Amend Sections 51, 62, and 526, And To Repeal Sections 63 and 529 of The Code of Civil Procedure Of The Canal Zone."

Section 9. #sec-9

This order shall take effect sixty days from this date. WOODROW WILSON

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

August 14, 1914.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 2019 (Aug. 14, 1914), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-2019-require-security-for-costs-civil-cases-the-canal-zone.