The Pocket Guide to Political and Civil Rights

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Suverans2's picture

"It is modelled[sic] on the French Civil Code and the Cato Institute's The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States (The Pocket Constitution), the idea of which was to enable every citizen to carry in their[sic] pocket a summary of the rights which they[sic] enjoyed under the law." ~ The Pocket Guide to Political and Civic Rights: The English, American, and French Traditions, 1215-1830 [Emphasis added]

These "Political and Civic[1] Rights" are for those who "have submitted themselves to the dominion of a government". In other words, they are member-only-benefits for those individuals who consent[2] to remain "citizens" of a government, just as that introduction correctly states.

Footnotes:

[1] Civic. Pertaining to...citizen, or citizenship. ~ Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition (c.1991), page 244 [Emphasis added]

"Rights are natural, civil, political, religious, personal, and public." ~ Noah Webster (c.1825)

Natural rights DO NOT pertain to..."citizen, or citizenship".

[2] CONSENT, n. ...We give consent, when we yield that which we have a right to withhold... ~ Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language [Emphasis added]

TAC'IT, a. ...So we say, a tacit agreement or covenant of men to live under a particular government, when no objection or opposition is made... ~ Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language [Emphasis added]

Suverans2's picture

It's all about jurisdiction, which is the "extent or range of administrative power". Although many, (if not most), people believe that jurisdiction is limited only to place or territory, that belief is incorrect.

"Jurisdiction, is limited to place or territory, to persons, or to particular subjects."[1]

The limitation we are concerned with from that list is that of “persons”. The reason for that concern can be plainly seen in the following Maxim of Law.

Homo vocabulum est naturae; persona juris civilis--Man is a term of nature; person of civil law. Bouvier's Law Dictionary (1914), page 2136

And a deeper understanding of that word can be found here.

American Law and Procedure, Vol 13, page 137, 1910: "This word `person' and its scope and bearing in the law, involving, as it does, legal fictions and also apparently natural beings[2], it is difficult to understand; but it is absolutely necessary to grasp, at whatever cost, a true and proper understanding to the word in all the phases of its proper use ... A person is here not a physical or individual person, but the status or condition with which he is invested... not an individual or physical person, but the status, condition or character borne by physical persons... The law of persons is the law of status or condition."

"...at whatever cost..." WOW! Must be pretty important!

As we can see by the above two witnesses, this is more than just “patriot mythology”.

[1] Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language
[2] It is important to note that this did NOT say, “...and also natural beings”. For this to be a correct statement the authors had to add the word “apparently”.