{"id":20197,"date":"2012-11-19T09:27:49","date_gmt":"2012-11-19T16:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/?p=20197"},"modified":"2016-11-18T21:05:24","modified_gmt":"2016-11-19T04:05:24","slug":"jurisdiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/jurisdiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Jurisdiction!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Strike-The-Root<\/a> | Jurisdiction! What a wonderful word! It\u2019s easy to see why it is used so often by lawyers and judges; its meanings allow such broad interpretation–and application.<\/p>\n

For instance: my dictionary gives this as its first definition: \u201cthe power, right, or authority to interpret and apply the law.\u201d The words \u201cpower,\u201d \u201cright,\u201d \u201cinterpret,\u201d and \u201capply\u201d jump out. Who has that power? How did he\/she\/they get it? If the law permits of interpretation, isn\u2019t it vague, and therefore null and void? Can it be applied, or not, by the one with the \u201cpower\u201d and \u201cright\u201d? A right is a status granted by nature, not bestowed by some human dispensation. Are there people born with the right to interpret and apply the law? If someone has a right to apply the law, doesn\u2019t that suggest a corresponding obligation to respect that right? Is it selective in application?<\/p>\n

A second definition: \u201cthe authority of a sovereign power to govern or legislate.\u201d Surely the power (that word again!) to govern is inherent in the concept of sovereignty. How does one become sovereign? Does becoming a public servant bestow sovereignty upon you? What a twist: a sovereign servant!<\/p>\n

A third definition is particularly interesting: \u201cthe limits or territory within which authority may be exercised.\u201d Now we have the involvement of geography. There is a line on the earth\u2019s surface which divides Missouri from Nebraska. The line is invisible, but its presence is nonetheless unquestioned, and its importance undenied. If I, for example, step across that line, the \u201cauthority\u201d and \u201cpower\u201d which may be exercised over me by various strangers changes from a gang of Missourians to a gang of Nebraskans. What I could not do in Missouri may be allowed to me in Nebraska, or perhaps it\u2019s the other way around: I can\u2019t do in Nebraska what I could do in Missouri. The assorted strangers who have \u201cjurisdiction\u201d over me take very seriously these invisible lines, and go to great lengths to observe them. If I am standing with one foot in state A and the other in state B while shooting someone, (who collapses onto the very border!) there might arise a question of jurisdiction. It may be a question easily settled, but the very fact that it might arise means that geographical location is an important aspect of jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

I recall an episode of \u201cThe Honeymooners\u201d in which Ralph berates his long-suffering wife Alice, claiming, \u201cI\u2019m the boss; you\u2019re nothing.\u201d Alice replies: \u201cBig deal: boss over nothing.\u201d There\u2019s no use having power, authority, sovereignty–i.e., jurisdiction, over nothing. Government, which via its various agencies claims jurisdiction over all of us within its territorial limits, piously affirms that it governs by consent of the governed. That assent is assumed, of course. The Rulers who give little significance to an unwritten contract attach life and death significance to an assumption of consent, and thereby, their jurisdiction over us. Just think: If you set out to walk across this vast country, every single step you took would place you within the imaginary boundaries of some group claiming dominion over you, based upon the geographic coincidence of your presence there. English author Hilaire Belloc wrote, in 1931, that the modern state \u201cacts as though it had complete, unlimited, and eternal rights over the soul of man.\u201d It makes the expression \u201cland of the free\u201d sound rather hollow. Free? Where? The following scenario comes to mind.<\/p>\n

Ruler: You must obey the laws of Missouri, sir.
\nPerson: Why?
\nR: Because you are within the State of Missouri, and Missouri law applies.
\nP: In other words, if I\u2019m within a given territory, I\u2019m subject to its rules, etc.?
\nR: Exactly.
\nP: We are, at this moment, within the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Are you subject to the Archbishop?
\nR: We\u2019re not talking about that.
\nP: We\u2019re within the Missouri Synod. Do accept the authority of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod?
\nR: Flippancy is hardly appropriate here.
\nP: I\u2019m standing. Do you see the circle around my feet?
\nR: What are you talking about? Of course not.
\nP: That circular line, enclosing my personal territory, is as real as the one which delineates \u201cMissouri.\u201d
\nR: You are trying my patience, sir!
\nP: Within that line I am sovereign, sir, not you! My zone of sovereignty is as real as yours, I assure you. I no more recognize your authority within my boundaries than you recognize that of Uganda, or Illinois, within yours. I, not you, have jurisdiction in my zone of sovereignty, and within that zone, I am subject to no one save my God, my family, and myself. Do you expect me to believe that you have greater jurisdiction over my person than I do?
\nR: I am going to hold you over for psychiatric examination.<\/p>\n

In the final analysis, jurisdiction attaches itself to the one with the largest gun.<\/p>\n

By Paul Hein<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Strike-The-Root | Jurisdiction! What a wonderful word! It\u2019s easy to see why it is used so often by lawyers and judges; its meanings allow such broad interpretation–and application. For instance: my dictionary gives this as its first definition: \u201cthe power, right, or authority to interpret and apply the law.\u201d The words \u201cpower,\u201d \u201cright,\u201d \u201cinterpret,\u201d and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[294],"tags":[690,389,501,213,244],"class_list":["post-20197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-authority","tag-jurisdiction","tag-law","tag-rights","tag-statism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}