Knowing the Law

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I've been meaning to post this for a while, butwasn't comfortablequoting because of copyright protections. I'll paraphrase just a couple points and link, instead.

Edmund Burke, a Member of Parliament in the late colonial period, supported the American colonies. In 1775 he gave a speech to Parliament. Init he related thatone of the reasons for the "intractible spirit"of the colonials was theirstudy of law. At one point he commented that a bookseller had told him they had sold nearly as many Blackstones Commentariesin the colonies as in England.

The link is below. Its quite good. Its the sixth paragraph. It begins with, "Permitme, Sir..."

http://tinyurl.com/3a7v97

Comments, please.

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http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch1s2.html

Copyright law is no better understood than any other area of the law and in greater flux.

http://www.google.com/search?q=copyright+threat

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Even before the Magna Carta the English recognized that the Crown must give to the population in proportion to what it took from them. For most it came down to protection from invasion, but in many cases it was protection from arbitrary and oppressive acts by the local lord.

When Englishmen - and especially those half-tamed Scots & Irish - showed up on these shores and found the Crown even worse that it had been back home, they used the only weapon at their disposal - the law! Thus started a tradition of not just barristers and counselors being educated on the law, but also the "common" man. For by knowing the law and its limits the common man could tell when those limits had been exceeded and fight back. He could fight back because there were no lords who had power by grant from the Crown, which had power by divine right. The Crown sent agents who were answerable to the law.

Read the Declaration of Independence. It is a major complaint that the agents of the Crown, and thus by extension the Crown itself, was not playing by the rules. The writers & signers of that document had tried everything they could think of to get the agents of the Crown to play by the rules but to no avail. Since they did not own the ball they could not take it and go home, so they just left the game. The result was the Crown lost money, land, and dignity.

Today the same thing holds true. If you know the rules set for the agents of the government you an fight it when they do not play by those rules. Americans used to be like Burke wrote about - they knew the actual law. Nowadays there is too much "wishing" about how things "ought to be" as opposed to what the law actually says. We have allowed lawyers to take over this area completely, and must now trust them to know the law for most of us do not know it all unless we are stopped short for some violation of it.

One does not need to go to law school to learn how the law works. Some basic reading will provide that knowledge.

If you do not know the law and how she operates you are forever at the mercy of those who do and would abuse her.

stay safe.

skidmark

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skidmark wrote:

.....l....One does not need to go to law school to learn how the law works. Some basic reading will provide that knowledge.

If you do not know the law and how she operates you are forever at the mercy of those who do and would abuse her.

stay safe.

skidmark

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Are you suggesting that we "read" the law?

Many lawyers in the past were accepted into the profession in this fashion.
Actually seven states still allow this as a way to become an attorney.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0603/p13s01-lecs.html

Knowledge is power. Lack of knowledge is dangerous.

Yata hey

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skidmark wrote:

SNIP Even before the Magna Carta the English recognized that the Crown must give to the population in proportion to what it took from....

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Great post, Skidmark!!