Public authority power The fact that the claimants were acting as public authorities exercising coercive powers of the state in carrying out its public function in respect of the centre did not per se put them outside the scope of RA 1886. (newlawjournal.co.uk)
Even if a politically effective majority of citizens were Catholic, we should not want a confessional state if that means the Church, in its hierarchical self «definition, would be party to executing the necessarily coercive power of the state. (firstthings.com)
Witte writes, «Marriage required the coercive power of the state to preserve its integrity. (firstthings.com)