The United States federal department responsible for enforcing federal laws (including the enforcement of all civil rights legislation); created in 1870
The department of justice has oversight in matters relating to the enforcement of the federal laws and the administration of justice through minor courts.
In the Mall are the building of the Department of Agriculture, the Smithsonian Institution (q.v.), the National Museum (1910), the Army Medical Museum and the Bureau of Fisheries, and here a building for the Department of Justice is to be erected.
The governor has represented the president without possessing much power; the department of war has had ill-defined duties; the department of justice has, in theory, had charge of the general law; the department of the interior has administered the land law; the agents of the bureau of education have superintended the stocking of Alaska with reindeer; the United States Fish Commission has investigated the condition of marine life without having powers to protect it.
At the head of the department of justice is the supreme judicial court, which consists of a chief justice and seven associate justices appointed by the governor and council for a term of seven years.
This he felt constrained to do, much against his personal desire; and subsequently he attempted in vain to purchase Sims's freedom, and many years later appointed him to a position in the department of justice at Washington.