Contrary to Popular Myth
Contrary to popular myth, our
"rights" in this nation do not derive from our Constitution.
 The
people of this great nation need to know the truth.
Our rights come from ancient
principles of law upon which our Constitution was built. Our Constitution is
an attempt to codify ancient principles of law to provide a mechanism for enforcing
those principles for the benefit of all people.
The printed words you see before
you are only symbols of the spirits they represent. The symbols are not the
words, nor can thoughts expressed by printed words be locked on a
page. Thoughts are alive and exist separate from the words that express them. Thoughts
are spirits.
Thoughts exist apart from printed
symbols. Thoughts can be expressed by printed or spoken words, however
thoughts themselves are independent of the page or voice expressing them. True
thoughts are part of eternal spirit.
False thoughts are darkness.
Words and the spirit-thoughts
they represent are not tangible things. One cannot put words or the
spirit-thoughts they express in a basket like apples. Words and ideas are
intangible things.
Trees and cobblestones are
tangible things. They are not spirits.
There is a difference.
This difference is critically
important to understanding legal principles, for law is spirit and exists
apart from the tangible world.
There is a tangible reality ... and
there is a spiritual reality.
Guns and swords are tangible.
Principles and promises are
spiritual.
In the realm of tangible things
we find transition. Change is constantly at work. Change affects all. What was
true yesterday in the tangible world (i.e., in the world separate from words)
may not be true today. Moth and rust consumes all. As Lucretius said, "Tall
towers will fall and mountains will crumble." Tangible things don’t last.
However, spiritual truths last
forever, for they were true from the beginning and always will be true.
True words are enduring spirits.
When words express truth, they
overcome falsehood (the adversary of peace and human happiness).
Thus the maxim, "A thing
similar is not exactly the same," is true. It cannot be refuted. It is not
subject to changes in the tangible world precisely because it exists outside the
tangible. It is spirit, this simple maxim of law, and and it is true …
self-evidently so.
Truth exists.
Truth in the tangible world may
change from day-to-day.
Truth in the spiritual world
never changes.
Maxims teach us unchanging truths
and guide us in wisdom.
Truth is truth. Nothing else is.
Reality in the tangible world may
be illusion, but reality in the world of spirit is real! That which is true
spirit is always true.
It is upon this fundamental truth
that maxims of law are erected, principles of justice and truth that never
change. They were true before you or I were born. They will be true then the sun
stops shining and the oceans freeze solid. They are self-evidently true, i.e.,
they comply with the scrutiny of common-sense. Only the most unreasonable (or
deceitfully self-interested person) will attempt to deny self-evident truth.
Over mankind’s 6,000 year
history wise writers have written self-evident truths to guide us in the
administration of justice, to give us a measure by which we can examine our
system of codes and precepts to judge if they are truly "just". These
self-evident maxims of law are relied upon and cited in cases today by every
court in the land. They are not subject to debate. They need not be taken on
faith. All they require is a modicum of common-sense. Indeed, they are the
bedrock of common-sense as it applies to the administration of law in civilized
societies.
Unfortunately, however,
principles codified by ancient legal maxims are being displaced by modern
thinkers who are intentionally eroding our due process rights and the rule of
law with stupidity and self-serving policies that ultimately threaten the
welfare of those with little or no financial or political power to secure
justice in our legal system today.
Before Columbus sailed maxims
were studied and preserved by scholars wise enough to know that someday
principles embodied in maxims would improve the human condition, establishing
republics like ours where justice and liberty would be preserved by people
willing to adhere to the reliable guide of self-evident truth.
The men who met on the 4th of
July 1776 were in agreement about maxims. Indeed, it was their faith in the
self-evident truths of maxims and their love for the people that guided them to
rebel against King George in the first place and later to draft our Constitution
as they did. Maxims were the bedrock of our nation’s liberty. Maxims guided
the founding fathers to declare our independence from the crown. Maxims were
embodied in our Constitution and form its framework. Maxims expressed the
principles of equity that encouraged them to stand together and trust the
blessing of Providence on their holy enterprise. This truth is too little known
today, yet it is as certain as the stars.
The "Holy Experiment",
as William Penn called the foundling nation of America, was predicated on maxims
of law that compelled right-thinking men and women of courage and goodwill to
work together, pledging their lives and sacred fortunes to the cause of liberty
and justice for all. Truth would see them through. Self-evident truth.
So, where did the maxims come
from?
Most maxims come from the Church
of England (that had its own courts called courts of equity) where principles of
fairness were applied to the cases brought before its bench, regardless of the
wealth or political station of the litigants. These maxims were held to outweigh
imperatives of the King's written royal law. The jus of love and mercy
was held higher than the lexthat
flowed from the King’s pen.
The courts of the Church
dispensed equity.
The courts of the king enforced
the written law.
Maxims of equity temper the law.
Maxims of equity prevent law from
being cruel.
Maxims of equity, therefore, must
be preserved and published to this present generation and to each succeeding
generation until the end of time.
The maxims (e.g., "He who
seeks the benefit of equity must come to court with clean hands.") are
fundamental expressions of self-evident truth intended to guide our courts to
dispense justice fairly.
"The safety of the people
cannot be judged but by the safety of every individual."
"Liberty to all but
preference to none."
Such maxims are built on
principles of love, supported by common-sense and the experience wherein history
has taught us the consequence of ignoring their self-evident truth.
Maxims encouraged the framers to
embark on their holy experiment that is America.
Who sees this today? Who speaks
of it openly? Who teaches these principles?
The maxims need to be taught today!
Without the power of self-evident
truths expressed so wisely by ancient maxims, liberty may soon become an empty
dream for all but the rich and powerful. Without the protections of self-evident
truths, the weak and few will be destroyed by the powerful and many. Justice
cannot survive where there are no rules to guide it. Maxims prevent the abuse of
power. Only by reestablishing the self-evident truths set forth in the maxims of
equity can we hope to guide our children safely in this Twenty-First Century.
What is needed is a team of
talented artists, writers, educators, publishers, promoters, and media
personalities to impart these simple concepts to our children and to all who
will listen, lifting the lamp higher, leading our children out of the darkness
toward which they are steadfastly marching with misplaced confidence at this
hour.
Today's generation is guided only
by good intentions. Fill in the blank.
The maxims of equity must be
restored as soon as possible.
No expense should be spared. The
need is critical.
Time is of the essence.
Lift the Lamp Higher!
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