“The Dichotomy of the Freeman or the Slave.” This dictum dates back at least 1,400 years in Western civilization and legal tradition. OMNES HOMINES AUT LIBERI SUNT AUT SERVI. All men are freemen or slaves. This Latin dictum declares you must be either a freeman or a slave. Mutually exclusive categories. No middle ground. If youre not one, you must be the other. (Inst. 1, 3, pr.; Fleta, 1. 1, c. 1, Sect. 2. On page 1238 of Blacks Law Dictionary (Revised 4th Edition) ) Free: Not subject to legal (legislated) constraint of another. Unconstrained; having power to follow the dictates of his own will. Not subject to the dominion of another. Not compelled to involuntary servitude. Used in this sense as opposed to slave... Enjoying full civic rights... (Blacks Law Dictionary) Most fundamentally, these are the rights to own property, to engage in voluntary exchange, and the sanctity of contract. These are also basic common law rights. In property: Freeman: An allodial proprietor or freeholder has an inalienable right to property. Slave: Someone whose property is subject to property tax is a vassal or feudal tenant. Freeman in models of Law: In Roman law, it denoted one who was either born free or emancipated, and was the opposite of slave. In feudal law, it designated an allodial proprietor, as distinguished from a vassal or feudal tenant. In old English law, the word described a freeholder or tenant by free services; one who was not a villein (slave of a feudal lord). In modern legal phraseology, it is the appellation (name) of a member of a city or borough having the right of suffrage, or a member of any municipal corporation invested with full civic right. Slave: A person who is wholly subject to the will of another; one who has no freedom of action, but whose person and services are wholly under the control of another... One who is under the power of a master, and who belongs to him; so that the master may sell and dispose of his person, of his industry, and of his labour, without his being able to do anything, have anything, or acquire anything, but what must belong to his master... (Blacks Law Dictionary)
Posted on: Sun, 11 May 2014 07:15:43 +0000
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