Natural Rights
04 Sunday DEC 2011
POSTED BY EOWYNDBH IN UNCATEGORIZED
≈ LEAVE A COMMENT
Tags
Constitutional rights, duties of state governments, inherent natural rights, irrevocable rights, militia, natural rights,
personal rights, powers delegated to states, powers of federal government, powers of the states, restrictions on
federal government, restrictions on states, Rights
(Blog Master’s Notes: In regards to Militia, when the state refuses to honor its
obligations, the Right still exists, but is left to the people themselves)
UNDERSTANDING YOUR INHERENT NATURAL
RIGHTS
Natural Rights [are] the objects for the protection of which society is formed and
municipal laws established. Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1797. ME 9:422
Our rights, being natural equate to God given, are secured by the Constitution
itself. The constitution creates a fictional federal government to do the few things
States alone cannot do. It also places restrictions on that government; see article
I, section 9. The Bill of Rights is a set of further restrictions i.e. negative rights on
the federal government. The constitution has a preamble that states that very
clearly. That provision is how your rights are protected.
The Bill of Rights is the name for the first ten amendments to the United States
Constitution. [1] They were introduced by James Madison to the First United
States Congress in 1789 as a series of legislative articles and came into effect as
Constitutional Amendments on December 15, 1791, through the process of
ratification by three-fourths of the States.
The Bill of Rights is a series of limitations on the power of the United States
federal government, protecting the natural rights of liberty and property including
freedom of speech, a free press, free assembly, and free association, as well as the
right to keep and bear arms. In federal criminal cases, it requires indictment by a
grand jury for any capital or “infamous crime”, guarantees a speedy, public trial
with an impartial jury composed of members of the state or judicial district in
which the crime occurred, and prohibits double jeopardy. In addition, the Bill of
Rights reserves for the people any rights not specifically mentioned in the
Constitution [2] and reserves all powers not specifically granted to the federal
government to the people or the States. Most of these restrictions on the federal
government were later applied to the states by a series of legal decisions applying
the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was ratified in 1868.
The Bill was influenced by George Mason’s 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights, the
1689 English Bill of Rights, works of the Age of Enlightenment pertaining to
natural rights, and earlier English political documents such as Magna Carta
(1215).
Delegates to the Philadelphia Convention on September 12, 1787 debated whether
to include a Bill of Rights in the body of the U.S. Constitution, and an agreement to
create the Bill of Rights helped to secure ratification of the Constitution itself. [3]
Ideological conflict between Federalists and anti-Federalists threatened the final
ratification of the new national Constitution. Thus, the Bill addressed the concerns
of some of the Constitution’s influential opponents, including prominent Founding
Fathers, who argued that the Constitution should not be ratified because it failed
to protect the fundamental principles of human liberty.
Twelve articles were proposed to the States, but only the last ten articles were
ratified in the 18th Century, corresponding to the First through Tenth
Amendments. The proposed first Article, dealing with the number and
apportionment of U.S. Representatives, never became part of the Constitution. The
second Article, limiting the power of Congress to increase the salaries of its
members, was ratified two centuries later as the 27th Amendment.
The Bill of Rights plays a key role in American law and government, and remains a
vital symbol of the freedoms and culture of the nation. One of the first fourteen
copies of the Bill of Rights is on public display at the National Archives in
Washington, D.C.
Summary of Constitutional Rights, Powers and Duties.
In these days of the repeated and essentially unopposed rape of our Constitution
by the Left, we need to remember why our Constitution is special to begin with.
Perhaps the single greatest reason why the United States Constitution is the most
powerful secular document ever written is because in writing it makes it the
supreme, and really the only, task of government to defend natural rights. But,
what are natural rights? We hear today that natural rights are illusions and that
nobody really has them. Yet, we hear this in the midst of our great society
crumbling in pieces to the ground.
So where did the Founding Fathers natural rights have their origin?
The concept of natural rights is rooted in that of natural law. Natural law is
ancient; it is rooted in the Greek Stoic philosophers. It states that there are certain
fundamental laws that are unique to human beings and, as with animals’ instincts,
they do not need to be legislated into existence, while trying to legislate against
them causes massive harm. Natural law is thought to be transcendent of human
made laws, known as “positive law”. Natural law is timeless and beyond the limits
of geographical location or demographics, while positive law is always changing
because it is extremely imperfect and incomplete. During the Middle Ages, legal
theorists concluded that natural law cannot be defined in a way similar to positive
law because the former so transcends the limitations of the latter. Instead, natural
law can be “defined” by showing examples of it. From a philosophical point of
view, this means that any human being has the right to defend himself against
anyone who would try to violate his natural rights that stem from natural law even
if the state is either non-existent or absent from the scene. A modern example
would be that if you catch an armed robber breaking into your home at 2AM, you
have the right to shoot him to defend yourself and your property; if he dies, you
cannot be charged with murder, and if he is wounded and needs medical attention
he has no right to sue you. Historically, natural law arises by spontaneous order;
this corresponds perfectly with the modern science concept of “emergent
property”, which says that when sufficient numbers of necessary conditions are
put together they create an entirely new state which is greater than the sum of its
parts. In degenerate times, such as after the fall of Rome, huge amounts of
unorganized violence result as individuals take it upon themselves to defend their
natural rights. From a scientific perspective, natural law defines those things
which an individual may instinctively use unorganized violence to defend against
attack without it following that such an individual poses a threat to reasonable
people who do not try to attack his natural rights. So, we are able to glean at least
a lot of what is contained in natural law from studying what normally calm,
peaceful people across all cultures and nations are routinely willing to resort to
unorganized violence to defend themselves against.
THE NATURAL RIGHTS OF MANKIND ORIGINATED WITH THE
COVENANT OF MANS CREATION AND IS A COVENANT OF THE
BLOOD OF THE GIFT OF LIFE AND THEREBY, IRREVOCABLE
The greatest expression of natural rights was found in the Founding Fathers,
especially among Jefferson, Paine, and Samuel Adams. But they were all informed
in their views by the great English philosopher John Locke. In his published
treatises on Law in 1689 and 1690, Locke spelled out the justification for and the
essence of natural rights.
“Reason, which is [Natural Law], teaches all Mankind, who would but consult it,
that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his Life,
Health, Liberty, or Possessions. [A society of justice must] have a standing Rule to
live by, common to every one of that Society, and made by the Legislative Power
erected in it; A Liberty to follow my own Will in all things, where the Rule
prescribes not; and not to be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown,
Arbitrary Will of another Man,” wrote Locke.
Locke also defined government as a “necessary evil” the purpose of which is to
organize to defend mankind’s natural rights. The organized violence of
government is superior to the unorganized violence of individuals, and it spares
many individuals from having to risk their lives. Thomas Paine would echo this
idea of the government as “at best, a necessary evil” in his political tract Rights of
Man. Samuel Adams wrote, “The natural liberty of man is to be free from any
superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of
man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule.”
However, in the 19th century in Europe, the prevailing idea of natural rights came
under attack from hostile ideas that are thriving today in the U.S. These hostile
ideas were born of distorted concepts taken and removed from the physical
sciences (where they are justified and valuable).
Materialism–the view that the be-all and end-all of philosophy is simply to realize
that all things are matter; beyond matter, nothing is important. This leads to views
so extreme that even secular humanism is not taken seriously because it relies too
much on abstract, non-material ideas for the materialist. Translating materialism
into a philosophy of human behavior leads to the conclusion that all of human life
is merely about “getting and spending”.
Empiricism–a philosophy which bases itself on the empirical method of science. It
concludes that we have nothing to base our thoughts and feelings on except past
experiences. Therefore, there cannot be any natural rights for all, and there
cannot be good or evil, for all truth is relative.
Positivism–this philosophy says that all metaphysical inquiry of any nature is pure
nonsense. Only that information which we can get from our five physical senses–
that which we are “positive” about–matters. (Notice its cognitive counterpart in
“positive” law.)
Summary of Constitutional Rights,
Powers and Duties
Discussions of rights are sometimes confused concerning what are and are not
rights of the people or powers of government or the duties of each. This is an
attempt to summarize the rights, powers, and duties recognized or established in
the U.S. Constitution, in Common Law as it existed at the time the U.S.
Constitution was adopted, or as implied therein. Not included are certain
“internal” rights and powers that pertain to the various elements of government
within each level with respect to each other. Personhood: [1]
“Persons” are one of the two main classes which are the subject of rights, powers,
and duties, the other being “citizens”. Persons may be “natural” or “corporate”.
“Citizens” are a subclass of “natural persons”. Only persons have standing as
parties under due process. Each government has the power to define what is and
is not a “person” within its jurisdiction, subject to certain restrictions of Common
Law and the Constitution, the 15th Amendment to which requires that it not
exclude anyone based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Under
Common Law existing at the time of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, “natural
personhood” was considered to begin at natural birth and end with the cessation
of the heartbeat. But technology has created a new situation, opening the way for
statute or court decision to extend this definition and set the conditions under
which personhood begins and ends.
Each government may also establish, within its jurisdiction, “corporate persons”
such as governmental entities, associations, corporations, or partnerships, in
addition to the Common Law “natural” persons, but the “personhood” of such
corporate entities is not created by the government. Its corporate personhood
derives from the personhood of its members. Corporate persons must be
aggregates of natural persons.
Under Common Law, natural persons include only human beings, but provides a
basis for inclusion of entities that are sufficiently like human beings in their
behavior to be indistinguishable for legal purposes, such as aliens, androids, or
genetically enhanced animals, which have interests, an ability to reason, and an
ability to communicate. This would exclude, however, establishment of other
things as persons, such as inanimate objects, which have no ability to represent
themselves under due process. Inclusion of such inanimate objects as parties to
civil due process, in effect making them “persons”, has found its way into the U.S.
legal system, unconstitutionally, through recent seizure/forfeiture statutes.
Although not a well-developed area, there is also a basis for excluding entities
which, although they are born to human beings, lack attributes which would
enable them to be functionally human, such as some minimal level of cognitive
capacity, but such beings must be considered natural persons as the default
unless proven otherwise through due process. Citizenship:
Citizenship is the attribute of persons who, as members of the polity, have certain
privileges and duties in addition to those they have as persons. Citizens include
those born on U.S. or State territory or naturalized according to law. Natural
Rights:
The classic definition of “natural rights” are “life, liberty, and property”, but these
need to be expanded somewhat. They are rights of “personhood”, not
“citizenship”. These rights are not all equally basic, but form a hierarchy of
derivation, with those listed later being generally derived from those listed earlier.
Personal Security (Life):
(1) Not to be killed.
(2) Not to be injured or abused.
Personal Liberty:
(3) To move freely.
(4) To assemble peaceably.
(5) To keep and bear arms [18].
(6) To assemble in an independent well-disciplined [13] militia.
(7) To communicate with the world.
(8) To express or publish one’s opinions or those of others.
(9) To practice one’s religion.
(10) To be secure in one’s person, house, papers, vehicle [14], and effects against
unreasonable searches and seizures.
(11) To enjoy privacy in all matters in which the rights of others are not violated
[7].
Private Property:
(12) To acquire, have and use the means necessary to exercise the above natural
rights and pursue happiness, specifically including:
(1) A private residence, from which others may be excluded.
(2) Tools needed for one’s livelihood.
(3) Personal property, which others may be denied the use of.
(4) Arms suitable for personal and community defense.
Non-natural rights of personhood, created by
*social contract:
(1) To enter into contracts, and thereby acquire contractual rights, to secure the
means to exercise the above natural rights [1, 15].
(2) To enjoy equally the rights, privileges and protections of personhood as
established by law.
(3) To petition an official for redress of grievances and get action thereon in
accordance with law, subject to the resources available thereto.
(4) To petition a legislator and get consideration thereof, subject to resources
available thereto.
(5) To petition a court for redress of grievances and get a decision thereon,
subject to resources available thereto.
(6) Not to have one’s natural rights individually disabled except through due
process of law, which includes:
(a) In criminal prosecutions:
(1) Not to be charged for a major crime but by indictment by a Grand Jury, except
while serving in the military, or while serving in the Militia during time of war or
public danger.
(2) Not to be charged more than once for the same offense.
(3) Not to be compelled to testify against oneself.
(4) Not to have excessive bail required.
(5) To be tried by an impartial jury from the state and district in which the events
took place.
(6) To have a jury of at least six for a misdemeanor, and at least twelve for a
felony [1].
(7) To a speedy trial.
(8) To a public trial.
(9) To have the assistance of counsel of one’s choice.
(10) To be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation.
(11) To be confronted with the witnesses against one.
(12) To have compulsory process for obtaining favorable witnesses.
(13) To have each charge proved beyond a reasonable doubt [1].
(14) To have a verdict by a unanimous vote of the jury, which shall not be held to
account for its verdict [1].
(15) To have the jury decide on both the facts of the case and the
constitutionality, jurisdiction, and applicability of the law [1].
(16) Upon conviction, to have each disablement separately and explicitly proven
as justified and necessary based on the facts and verdict [1].
(17) To have a sentence which explicitly states all disablements, and is final in
that once rendered no further disablements may be imposed for the same offense
[1].
(18) Not to have a cruel or unusual punishment inflicted upon oneself.
(b) In civil cases:
(1) To trial by an impartial jury from the state and district in which the events
took place [1] where the issue in question is either a natural right [1] or property
worth more than $20.
(2) In taking of one’s property for public use, to be given just compensation
therefor.
(3) To have compulsory process for obtaining favorable witnesses [1].
(c) In all cases:
(1) To have process only upon legal persons able to defend themselves, either
natural persons or corporate persons that are represented by a natural person as
agent, and who are present, competent, and duly notified, except, in cases of
disappearance or abandonment, after public notice and a reasonable period of
time [1]. (2) Not to be ordered to give testimony or produce evidence beyond
what is necessary to the proper conduct of the process [1].
Non-natural rights or citizenship, created by *social contract:
(1) To enjoy equally the rights and privileges of citizenship as established by law.
(2) To vote in elections that are conducted fairly and honestly, by secret ballot.
(3) To exercise general police powers to defend the community and enforce the
laws, subject to legal orders of higher-ranking officials [17].
(4) To receive militia training [7].
Disabilities of minority: [1]
Certain of the above rights are restricted, or “disabled”, for minors, but the
definition of who is a minor and the extent to which each of these rights are
disabled for minors, is limited to the jurisdiction over which each government has
general legislative authority, which for the U.S. government, is “federal ground”
(see below). Minors are the only class of persons whose rights may be disabled
without a need to justify the disablement as arising from the need to resolve a
conflict with the rights of others, either through statute or due process. The
disablement consists of the assignment of a power to supervise the exercise of the
rights under the headings of “liberty” and “property” listed above to a guardian,
by default the parents, who acts as agent of the State for the purpose of nurturing
the minor. The disability is normally removed by statute providing for removal
when a certain age, such as 18, or condition, such as marriage, is attained. The
disabilities of minority can also be removed earlier by court order or, if statute
allows, extended beyond the usual statutory expiration by court order in cases of
incompetence. The right to vote is not included among the disabilities of minority,
but is defined separately by law, so that removal of the disabilities of minority
does not in itself affect having the right to vote.
Constitutional duties of persons under U.S. or State jurisdiction: [7]
(1) To obey laws that are constitutional and applied within their proper
jurisdiction and according to their intent.
(2) To comply with the terms of legal contracts to which one is a party.
(3) To tell the truth under oath.
Constitutional duties of citizens under U.S. or State jurisdiction: [7]
(1) To preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution [6].
(2) To help enforce laws and practices that are constitutional and applied within
their proper jurisdiction and according to their intent, and to resist those which
are not.
(3) To serve on juries, and to render verdicts according to the constitutionality,
jurisdiction, and applicability of statute and common law, and the facts of the
case.
Constitutional duties of able-bodied citizens under U.S. or State jurisdiction: [7]
(1) To defend the U.S. or State, individually and through service in the Militia.
(2) To keep and bear arms [18].
(3) To exercise general police powers to defend the community and enforce the
laws, subject to legal orders of higher-ranking officials when present [17].
Powers delegated to U.S. (National)
Government:
Exclusive powers
(1) To lay and collect import duties [8].
(2) To pay the debts of the U.S. Government.
(3) To regulate commerce with foreign nations and Indian Tribes.
(4) To regulate commerce among the States [2].
(5) To regulate immigration [7].
(6) To establish a uniform rule of naturalization.
(7) To establish uniform laws on bankruptcy throughout the United States.
(8) To coin money and regulate its value and that of foreign coin, and to issue bills
of credit.
(9) To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin
of the United States [3].
(10) To fix the standard of weights and measures.
(11) To provide and regulate postal services.
(12) To establish protection for intellectual property, including patent, copyright,
and trademark rights.
(13) To constitute lower national courts.
(14) To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and
offenses against the laws of nations [3].
(15) To declare war, authorize warlike activities by other than the armed forces,
and make rules concerning captures.
(16) To raise, support and regulate the armed forces.
(17) To govern what part of the Militia shall be employed in the service of the
United States.
(18) To exercise general Legislation [9] over federal ground, which is limited to
federal territories and districts, land purchased from states with the consent of
their legislatures, U.S. flag vessels on the high seas, and the grounds of U.S.
embassies abroad.
(19) To guarantee a republican form [12] of government to the States.
(20) To enter into a treaty, alliance, or confederation with a foreign state.
(21) To declare the punishment for treason [3].
(22) To prescribe the manner in which the acts, records, and judicial proceedings
of each state shall be proved to other states and what should be done about them.
(23) To admit new states into the Union.
(24) To make laws necessary and proper for executing the powers delegated to
the U.S. government.
Pre-emptive but non-exclusive powers
(1) To provide for the common defense and general welfare.
(2) To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the laws, suppress
insurrections, and repel invasions [16].
(3) To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia.
(4) To prescribe the times, places and manner of holding elections for members of
Congress, except the places for electing senators.
(5) To conduct a census every ten years.
Non-pre-emptive non-exclusive powers
(1) To lay and collect excise taxes on commerce or income taxes on persons [8].
(2) To borrow money.
Restrictions of the powers of the national Government:
(1) No exercise of powers not delegated to it by the Constitution.
(2) No payment from the Treasury except under appropriations made by law.
(3) Excises and duties must be uniform throughout the United States.
(4) Shall pass no tax or duty on articles exported from any state.
(5) No appointment of a senator or representative to any civil office which was
created while he was a member of Congress or for which the amount of
compensation was increased during that period.
(6) No preferences to the ports of one state over another in regulation or tax
collection.
(7) No titles of nobility shall be granted by the U.S. government, or permitted to
be granted to government officials by foreign states.
(8) May not protect a State against domestic violence without the request of its
legislature, unless it cannot be convened, in which case, without the consent of its
executive.
(9) U.S. courts do not have jurisdiction over suits against a state by citizens of
another state or foreign country.
Powers delegated to State Governments:
Exclusive powers
(1) To appoint persons to fill vacancies in the U.S. Congress from that state and to
hold special elections to replace them. State executive may make temporary
appointments if state legislature in recess and until they reconvene, when they
shall appoint a temporary replacement.
(2) To appoint the officers of its Militia.
(3) To conduct the training of its Militia [12].
Non-exclusive powers [4]
(1) To prescribe the times, places and manner of holding elections for members of
Congress [10].
Restrictions of the powers of the State Governments:
(1) State constitutions and laws may not conflict with any provision of the U.S.
Constitution or U.S. laws pursuant to it [7].
(2) May not exercise powers not delegated to the State government by the State
Constitution [7].
(3) May not make anything but gold or silver coin a tender in payment of debts.
(4) May not pass a law impairing the obligation of contracts.
(5) May not grant a title of nobility.
(6) May not collect imposts or duties on imports or exports without consent of
Congress, except fees necessary to cover the costs of inspections and paid to the
U.S. Treasury [8].
(7) May not lay a duty on tonnage.
(8) May not keep troops or ships of war in time of peace or make war without the
consent of Congress, unless actually invaded and in imminent danger that does
not admit of delay.
(9) May not make a compact or agreement with another state of the U.S. or with a
foreign state without the consent of Congress.
Duties of the State Governments:
(1) Must provide a republican form [12] of government to their citizens [7].
(2) Must conduct honest and fair elections, by secret ballot [7].
(3) Must give full faith and credit to the public acts, records, and judicial
proceedings of every other state, and recognize the privileges and immunities
granted thereby.
(4) Must extradict a person charged with a crime in another state to that state.
(5) Must organize and train their militias [7].
Restrictions of the powers of all Governments:
(1) Shall not disable any natural or constitutional right without due process of
law, and then only to the extent necessary to avoid infringing the rights of others.
(2) Shall not deny any person within its jurisdiction equal protection of the laws.
(3) Shall not suspend habeas corpus, except in case of rebellion of invasion and
the public safety may require it.
(4) Shall not issue a search warrant but on probably cause, supported by an oath
or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the
person or things to be seized.
(5) Shall not arrest members of Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of
the peace, while their house is in session.
(6) Shall not question a member of Congress on anything he says during a speech
or debate in his house.
(7) Shall not pass any bill of attainder or ex post facto law.
(8) Shall allow no slavery or involuntary servitude except as punishment for a
crime of which the party shall have been duly convicted.
(9) Shall not deny or abridge the right to vote to any person on account of race,
color, previous condition of servitude, sex, for failure to pay any tax, or on account
of age if older than 18.
Some arguably needed national powers:
(1) To regulate the manufacture, distribution, operation, and disposition of aircraft
and spacecraft, the regulation of their crews, and the definition and punishment of
crimes committed on U.S. registered aircraft or spacecraft or on aircraft or
spacecraft operating in U.S. airspace.
(2) To regulate cabled or wireless communications beyond a distance of 1
kilometer.
(3) To regulate the production, distribution, and use of nuclear energy, and
electric energy transmitted more than 1 kilometer.
(4) To limit tort liability on commerce and commercial articles subject to U.S.
regulation of their manufacture.
(5) To pre-emptively pass and enforce laws needed to conserve wildlife and
natural resources, to protect the climate and natural environment, to prevent an
excess of population, and to regulate public health and workplace safety.
(6) To provide for the punishment of abuses of power by any official, agent, or
employee of, or contractor for, any institution of government, and specifically any
violations of the Constitution and laws pursuant thereto.
(7) To provide for the punishment of abuses of the natural rights of persons by
other persons, in the event that those abuses, if the occurred on state ground, are
not prosecuted by a State government.
(8) To define “due process” to include the elements given above which are not
now explicit in the U.S. Constitution.
(9) To define the arms to which persons have a right to keep and bear as including
“all those weapons which may be carried by one person and which might be useful
or necessary to defend oneself or the community, except weapons of mass
destruction such as bombs, heavy missiles or artillery, or biological, chemical, or
nuclear agents which may cause lasting injury or death.”
(10) To make explicit that only natural persons or corporate persons composed of
natural persons may be the subject of due process in any civil or criminal
proceeding.
NOTES:
Regarding Commerce
[1] This is established in Common Law at the time the U.S. Constitution was
adopted, but is not explicit in the U.S. Constitution.
[2] Originally, “commerce” meant only transfers of goods or services for a
valuable consideration, so that “interstate” commerce would not include interstate
migration, carrying across a state border of one’s own possessions that one
intends to keep, the sending across a state border of a gift or inheritance, nor
include articles which had not yet crossed a state border, or articles which had
“come to rest” with the completion of the transfer. It would not include
manufacturing, local sales, or things that are “part of an aggregate” of interstate
commerce, or things that might “affect” interstate commerce. Note: also that the
power to regulate does not include the power to criminally prosecute violations of
regulations, but only to seize property through civil process.
[3] These are the only provisions that allow federal criminal laws jurisdiction
outside federal ground.
[4] These powers, if not exercised by the State, revert to the people.
[5] This provision would seem to forbid taxes on interstate commerce if export to
another state of the U.S. is included, leaving only intrastate commerce or
commerce on federal ground subject to excise taxes or duties, although interstate
commerce can otherwise be regulated.
[6] This means obeying constitutional laws and practices, and resisting
unconstitutional ones.
[7] This is not clearly stated, but implied.
[8] The power to tax is not the power to regulate or license, and vice versa. That is
why the powers to tax and to regulate are separately specified. With one
exception, which is never used (in Art. 1 Sec. 10), no allowance is made for the
charging of fees to cover the costs of regulation, even though this has become a
common practice, in violation of the Constitution.
[9] This use of the word “Legislation” is a term of art which grants general powers
within its jurisdiction, including powers of criminal and civil law that a State might
exercise within its jurisdiction, but unlike a State in that a State would be
restricted by a state constitution granting it only certain powers. This is a major
gap in the Constitution. Although it applies only to federal ground, it also does not
make clear, what are the limitations on such legislative power other than the
natural and constitutional rights of persons, and so has been interpreted to allow
anything that does not violate those rights. There is a need for a federal sub-
constitution, similar to a typical state constitution that applies to federal ground.
[10] The wording suggests that the States have the power, but allows the
Congress to pre-empt it.
[11] But this implies that if the State fails to appoint such officers, local militias
are left to elect their own, which was the established Common Law practice at the
time the U.S. Constitution was adopted. But “according to the discipline prescribed
by Congress”. This means Congress can direct, but not forbid it, and implies that,
in the absence of any training conducted by the State, local militias are left to
organize and train themselves, which was the established Common Law practice
established at the time the U.S. Constitution was adopted.
[12] The term used is “form” of government, but the Framers seem to have meant
substance as well, and that is reasonably implied.
[13] The original term was “well-regulated”, but this is what was meant. Militias
were originally local and independent of official authority, and it was intended that
although they be subject to official authority when called into service by such
authority, that they also be able to convene and operate independently when not.
[14] “Vehicle” was not explicitly included, but implied as an “effect”.
[15] This is needed to allow persons not only to have rights but the means to
exercise them, and also to acquire those means if they do not already have them,
without which the right would be unduly burdened. However, beyond this right,
the community has the general power to restrict contracts for reasons of public
policy and not just to avoid conflicts with the rights of others, so that there is not
a general “right” of contract, but a “default privilege” of doing so, subject to law,
for contracts that do not involve securing the means to exercise their natural
rights.
[16] This is worded as “to execute the Laws of the Union”, thus allowing States to
also call forth their Militias to execute their own laws.
[17] The exercise of general police powers is both a right of citizens, and a duty of
able-bodied ones. All citizens are policemen, although ordinary citizens may be
outranked by professional police officers when such officers are present in a law
enforcement situation.
[18] Likewise, the keeping and bearing of arms, while a right of persons, is also a
duty of able-bodied citizens.
FURTHER COMMENT:
Note that there is no right to marry or bear children included among any of the
rights listed above. It is not a “natural” right, because natural rights are only
rights of individuals, and exercise of a “right” to marry, without the consent of the
other, would be an assault. Since consent is required, it is a matter of contract,
and contractual rights are created by the community, even if it is a “community”
of only two persons. Since the community is normally a larger polity, and since all
legal contracts are agreements not only between the contracting parties, but also
with the entire community, therefore the community has the power to regulate
marriage and childbirth, and has exercised that power since time immemorial, for
the benefit of the community.
Note also that the fundamental unit of the social contract is the local community
or village. These may aggregate into a larger “state” or “federal union”, but the
basis is agreement among those who are in direct contact with one another.
It is sometimes thought that “the Constitution” consists only of the written
document. This is not so. The title “The Constitution of the United States” was
added after the document was adopted, but “constitution” meant the “basic legal
order”, and the Constitution consists of both the written document and the
common law at the time the document was adopted, which is here referred to as
the Common Law in caps. Now, the written document does supersede the Common
Law where they might be in conflict, but it does not replace it, and courts must
refer to the Common Law for guidance where the written document is silent or
ambiguous.
In addition to the written document and the Common Law, the Constitution also
includes Treaties, which, although they are valid only insofar as they are not in
conflict with the written Constitution, are superior to both the Common Law and to
State constitutions and laws, to the extent that those might be in conflict with the
Treaties. Thus, some of the Treaties that have been adopted extend and clarify
some of the rights, powers, and duties provided in the written Constitution. For
example, that is how “federal ground” is extended to include coastal waters out to
a certain distance from shore, and the grounds of U.S. embassies abroad, and how
the rights of the people are amplified by the Charter of the United Nations and by
various bilateral and multilateral Treaties that extend civil and commercial rights
to U.S. citizens abroad.
The Fly in the Ointment Regarding
Government Interference in the
Natural Right of Choice to Associate
Charles W. Baird on Freedom of Association, Why Doesn’t Freedom of Association
Apply in Labor Markets? July 2002 • Volume: 52 • Issue: 7 • Print This Post • 6
comments
Freedom of association is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution. The relevant portion states, “Congress shall make no law . . .
abridging . . . the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” Seems simple
enough. We may assemble ourselves into whatever peaceful associations we
choose, and the government is forbidden to interfere with those choices. But what
does this really mean?
Note that the guarantee is in the form of a restriction on what government may
do. The political philosophy of the authors of the Constitution and its Bill of Rights
was that all individuals have fundamental human rights against which government
is forbidden to trespass. Indeed, the most important function of any just
government is to protect those rights for all individuals under its jurisdiction.
Logically, a fundamental human right is one that every individual possesses and
can exercise in exactly the same sense at every point. If person A claims a right
that, when exercised, denies exactly the same right to person B, the alleged right
belongs only to A, not B. It should be called an A right, not a human right, for A
and B are rivals in the exercise of the right. Genuine human rights are those which
can be held and exercised non-rivalrously. The word “peaceably” in the
Amendment has two meanings. The associations we choose to enter may not
undertake violence to accomplish their ends, and within each association one
person may not coerce another. Associations must be based on mutual consent.
That the Constitution guarantees freedom of association to each of us does not
mean that we may each associate with anyone we choose. It means that we may
associate with whoever also agrees to associate with us. If B is forced to accept
A’s offer of association, B is not free to choose his associations. Association would
be a right of A, not B. It would not be a human right. Therefore, freedom of
association, correctly understood, has both a positive and a negative component.
We are free to associate with those who will accept us (positive), and we are free
to abstain from associations of which we do not approve (negative).
The positive right of freedom of association is recognized by the United Nations
and by the European Community. Article 20 of the U.N. Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (1948) states:
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 11 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms (1950) states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of
association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions for the
protection of his interest.” Here, unlike in the U.N. Declaration, there is no explicit
recognition of the correlative right to refrain from association. However, the
European Court of Human Rights read Article 11 as implying a negative freedom of
association in Young, James and Webster v. United Kingdom in 1981, a case that
involved mandatory union membership imposed on employees of British Rail. The
same Court made a similar ruling in a 1994 case, Sigurjonsson v. Iceland, which
involved forced membership in an organization of taxi drivers. Negative freedom
of association is recognized by American courts for some purposes, but not for all.
Most notably, it is not recognized in the case of labor unions.
Freedom of association is often misused as a fundamental argument in support of
the legal empowerment of labor unions by the National Labor Relations Act
(NLRA). Actually the NLRA violates individual workers’ and individual employers’
freedom of association. It also violates the freedom of association of unions. The
authors of the U.S. Constitution would have considered the NLRA unconstitutional
on its face. The NLRA was accepted as constitutional by the Supreme Court in the
Jones & Laughlin Steel Co. case in 1937 for purely political reasons, not on
grounds of careful constitutional reasoning. The New Deal Court sacrificed
freedom of association on the altar of political expediency and converted the right
of association within the trade unions, to a mere privilege to be regulated in
commerce by registering with government. BIG MISTAKE! The individual natural
right of association was waived for government promised pottage to “collectively”
bargain . . . certainly not an individual right anymore . . .
RELATED
Statutes (Attempting to Sell the Statute) part 2 In "Aid & Abet Newsletter"
Statutes (Never Argue the Second Amendment) In "2nd amendment"
Court (Letter Rogatory to Chief Justice- Reservation of Rights) In "Federal Rule 12"