Dec 2, 2012

Why You Can’t Understand the Constitution Without the Common Law

Liberty Forum
by James Stoner / 3 Comments

Filed Under: Commentaries on the Law of England, Common Law, Constitution, Doctor Bonham's Case, H.L.A. Hart, John Dickinson, Magna Charta, Natural Rights, Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, Originalism, William Blackstone

Why, in a country with a written Constitution and a founding document (the Declaration of Independence) that is grounded on natural right, should we pay attention to the common law? Wrongly understood, as it usually is today, common law is …

Responses

Judicial Deference, Self-government, and Judicial Rule, or Have a Coke and a Smile

In my previous post, I noted that the distinction between a tax and a regulation was well understood by the American revolutionaries. The distinction had to do with the purpose of the law. A tax was a law that …