“To make a law, there must be a superior, who has authority to make it and an inferior,* who is bound by it. To complete the definition of law, we must say that it is a rule prescribed by a lawful superior. God is the first superior.”
Institutions of American Law, Vol. I, (1851) Bouvier
"Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely a dependent being."
Blackstone Commentaries, sec. 2, Vol. 1, “the Nature of Laws in general”.
“Mr. Logan: "...Natural laws cannot be created, repealed, or modified by legislation. Congress should know there are many things which it cannot do.”, Congressional Record-Senate,
Vol. 75 - Part 11, June 10, 1933, Pg 12522.
"A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the Laws of Nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate." Thomas Jefferson: Rights of British America, 1774. ME 1:209, Papers 1:134.
“Natural liberty of man is free from any superior power on earth, and not under the will or legislative authority of man, but only have the law of nature for his rule”. Samuel Adams, August 1, 1776
On September 4, 1982, and by Presidential executive order (Reagan), the U.S. Congress declared,
“…the Holy Bible is Word of God..”, under 96 Stat. 1211, and Public Law 97-280.
“The People of this State, as the successors of its former sovereign, are entitled to all the rights which formerly belonged to the King by his prerogative”. Lansing v. Smith, 4 Wend. 9, 21 Am. Dec. 89, 10C
Const. Law 298. (1821);
See: “The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them." California Govt Code, Sec. 11120, 54950; Washington Public Records Act, RCW sec. 42.17.251;.
See also: "The people, or sovereign are not bound by general words in statutes, restrictive of prerogative right, title or interest, unless expressly named. Acts of limitation do not bind the King or the people. The people have been ceded all the rights of the King, the former sovereign ... It is a maxim
of the common law, that when an act is made for the common good and to prevent injury, the King shall be bound, though not named, but when a statute is general and prerogative right would be divested or taken from the King [or the people] he shall not be bound." The People v. Herkimer, 4 Cowen (NY) 345, 348 (1825)
Butchers' Union Slaughterhouse Co. v. Crescent City Live-Stock Landing Co., 111 U.S. 746,
756-57, 4 S.Ct. 652 (1884):“As in our intercourse with our fellow-men certain principles of morality are assumed to exist, without which society would be impossible, so certain inherent rights lie at the foundation of all action, and upon a recognition of them alone can free institutions be maintained. These inherent rights have never been more happily expressed than in the declaration of independence,
that new evangel of liberty to the people: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident' – that is, so plain that their truth is recognized upon their mere statement – 'that all men are endowed' – not by edicts of emperors, or decrees of parliament, or acts of congress, but 'by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.' – that is, rights which cannot be bartered away, or given away, or taken away, except in punishment
of crime – 'and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and to secure these' – not grant them, but secure them – 'governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.' Among these inalienable rights, as proclaimed in that great document, is the right of men to pursue their happiness, by which is meant the right to pursue any lawful business
or vocation, in any manner not inconsistent with the equal rights of others, which may increase their prosperity or develop their faculties, so as to give to them their highest enjoyment. The common business and callings of life, the ordinary trades and pursuits, which are innocuous in themselves, and have been followed in all communities from time immemorial, must therefore be free in this country to all alike upon
the same conditions. The right to pursue them, without let or hinderance, except that which is applied to all persons of the same age, sex, and condition, is a distinguishing privilege of citizens of the United States, and an essential element of that freedom which they claim as their birthright. It has been well said that 'the property which every man has in his own labor, as it is the original foundation of all
other property, so it is the most sacred and inviolable. The patrimony of the poor man lies in the strength and dexterity of his own hands, and to hinder his employing this strength and dexterity in what manner he thinks proper, without injury to his neighbor, is a plain violation of this most sacred property. It is a manifest encroachment upon the just liberty both of the workman and of those who might be disposed to
employ him. As it hinders the one from working at what he thinks proper, so it hinders the others from employing whom they think proper.' Smith, Wealth Nat. bk. 1, c. 10.”
The United States is the only nation to politically recognize the unalienable nature of a People’s rights by the Declaration of Independence. John Locke's "life, liberty, and property" appear three times in the U.S. Constitution. See: “without some
such declaration of rights the government would assume, and might be held to possess, the power to trespass upon those rights of persons and property, which by the Declaration of Independence were affirmed to be unalienable rights”. United States v. Twin City Power co, 350 U.S. 222 (1956).
As to the first of these grounds: It is not disputed that the district court of Kansas had, at the time of the commission of the alleged offense, jurisdiction generally of offenses against the criminal laws of the United States committed in the country known as Oklahoma, the place where this offense is charged to have been committed; but, on, the 2d of May, 1890, congress passed an act creating the territory of Oklahoma. 26 Stat. 81
Caha v. U.S., 152 U.S. 211 (1894)
