Case Citation to rethink...

"Personal liberty, or the Right to enjoyment of life and liberty, is one of the fundamental or natural Rights, which has been protected by its inclusion as a guarantee in the various constitutions, which is not derived from, or dependent on, the U.S. Constitution, which may not be submitted to a vote and may not depend on the outcome of an election. It is one of the most sacred and valuable Rights, as sacred as the Right to private property ... and is regarded as inalienable."

16 C.J.S., Constitutional Law, Sect.202, p.987

 

Sovereignty itself is, of course, not subject to law , for it is the author and source of law; but in our system, while sovereign powers are delegated to the agencies of government,sovereignty itself remains with the people , by whom and for whom all government exists and acts.  And the law is the definition and limitation of power. For the very idea that one man may be compelled to hold his life, or the means of living, or any material right essential to the enjoyment of life, at the mere will of another, seems to be intolerable in any country where freedom prevails, as being the essence of slavery itself.

(Yick Wo vs. Hopkins , U.S. 356 (1886).

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