Free Republic

Freedom brings Happiness All people want to be free. We can only grow and learn to the degree that we are free. We can only know true fulfilment to the degree that we are free. It is only through being free that mankind can reach his potential. In short, we can only be happy to the degree that we are free, for those things which bring us true joy can only be obtained through the use of those faculties which freedom vouchsafes to us; and through experience we know that being forced or coerced is anathema to both the human...

In less than two weeks, the only way people will be able to marry in Pennsylvania is with a license. No more can two people just declare their intentions to be wed, live together and legally call themselves married. And that means the benefits of marriage -- pensions, Social Security, health insurance and any other inheritances -- will only be available to spouses with a legal document that proves their union. "I think it's just a concept that time has passed," said Sen. Mary Jo White, a Franklin Republican.

The Ins and Outs of Jury Nullificationby Jean F. Drew If a juror accepts as the law that which the judge states then that juror has accepted the exercise of absolute authority of a government employee and has surrendered a power and right that once was the citizen’s safeguard of liberty, -- for the saddest epitaph which can be carved in the memory of a vanished liberty is that it was lost because its possessors failed to stretch forth a saving hand while yet there was time. -- Thomas Jefferson The Framers of the Constitution of the United States were...

Constitutional Ignorance Invites Tyranny "It is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering =================================== It...

Judges have taken over the law. With the help of legislators who are also members of the BAR Assn., they have literally revised nearly every legal definition to suit the political and personal agenda of individuals. Our Constitution, and the foundations of our very liberty are at stake. The concept of allowing total immunity, such that even the most egregious and outrageous judicial dicatator is allowed, is unconscionable. To have to address a board of the judges' peers or even subordinates, to address a grievance or present a malfeasance case is ridiculous. They simply close ranks, no matter HOW badly...

<p>It could be argued that the Ten Commandments should be publicly displayed for no other reason than that these precepts informed our Founders. Our system of law is based on English Common Law, which had its moral foundation in the Ten Commandments.</p>

In an appeal filed last week, a Wisconsin Appellate Court is being asked to recognize under State law a “necessity defense,” which would give pro-life demonstrators the right to trespass on clinic property in order to stop involuntary abortions. The controversial position is based on the common law rule that one is privileged to enter on another’s property if it is or reasonably appears to be necessary to prevent serious harm to a third person. According to the Wisconsin State Constitution, the common law is preserved in the State until it has been altered or changed by the legislature. The...

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court has ruled that common-law partners do not have a guaranteed right to a 50-50 split of assets when their relationships end, a decision critics say will have a devastating effect on hundreds of thousands of women and children. In an 8-1 decision, the court found estranged cohabitants can fight it out in court, but provincial matrimony property laws do not have to be expanded to automatically cover people who are not married. Justice Michel Bastarache concluded "choice must be paramount" for couples who have not legally wed. "With married couples there is a permanent and...

Lecture Archive On October 18, 2001 ISI co-sponsored the following lecture by Dr. James R. Stoner, Jr. with the Pi Sigma Alpha chapter at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Dr. Stoner is Associate Professor of Political Science at Louisiana State University. "A Harmonious and Consistent Whole": The Framing of the Constitution and the Common Law" James R. Stoner, Jr. Louisiana State University It's an honor to lecture today at the Air Force Academy. The other week, in teaching Thucydides to my own students at LSU, it struck me that what the navy was to ancient...