In a visit to a local high school, I examined six history and civics textbooks. Only three made any mention of common law, and none devoted more than four paragraphs to it. Together they gave it no more than one full page out of a total of 3,851 pages. This for a subject that is very likely the most important we could ever study. I also checked two law textbooks and they were no better. They mentioned common law only in passing and with the attitude that it’s gone now so it’s not important, forget it. Here’s a summary of some points you’ll want to remember from my letters: 1. An economic system is the result of its legal system. Or, economics is a symptom, the cause is law. 2. The two fundamental laws on which all major religions and philosophies agree are: do all you have agreed to do, and do not encroach on other persons or their property. These laws were the basis of the old common law. But only these two. Except for them we have little or no agreement about right and wrong. There may be other laws, but we don’t know. The system for discovering them—common law—was abolished before it could get any farther than these two. So these are the only laws that can be justly enforced on everyone. To go beyond them would be encroachment. Since encroachment is forbidden, each person is free to obey other laws if he or she wishes. If, for instance, you wish to obey laws requiring charity, compassion, respect, or something else, no one can rightfully interfere as long as you do not violate the two fundamental laws. If you meet someone who claims to disagree with these two laws, ask him if he’d like to live in a society where these laws are not obeyed. If he says yes, point out to him that there are many countries where this is the case and all are drowning in poverty. 3. America was the place where the principles of the old common law were more widely obeyed than anywhere else by everyone, including government officials . This is how America became the most free and prosperous land ever known. 4. “All men are created equal,” means no one is above the law, not even government officials. 5. Thomas Paine: “Man cannot make principles, he can only discover them.” This is the premise of both science and the common law. 6. There were courts before there was law. 7. The job of the courts was to discover and apply Natural Law. The result was common law, which was the courts’ attempt to reflect Natural Law. Common law wasnt perfect, but it was the best mankind has done so far. 8. Natural Law cannot be repealed by good intentions or majority Richard Maybury-Whatever Happened To Justice?
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 21:30:37 +0000
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