Sovereign
"No such ideas obtain here; at the
revolution, the sovereignty devolved on the people; and they are truly
the sovereigns of the country, but they are sovereigns without
subjects... and have none to govern but themselves; the citizens of
America are equal as fellow-citizens, and as joint tenants in the
sovereignty.
From the differences existing between feudal sovereignties and
governments founded on compacts, it necessarily follows that their
respective prerogatives must differ, Sovereignty is the right to govern;
a nation or state sovereign is the person or persons in whom that
resides.
In Europe, the sovereignty is generally ascribed to the prince; here it
rests with the people; there the sovereign actually administers the
government; here never in a single instance; our governors are the
agents of the people; and at most stand in the same relation to their
sovereign, in which the regents of Europe stand to their sovereigns.
Their princes have personal powers, dignities and preeminence, our
rulers have none but official; nor do they partake in the sovereignty
otherwise, or in any other capacity, than as private citizens." Chisholm
Ex'r. v. Georgia; 2 Dall. {U.S.} 419, 1 L.Ed. 440, {U.S.Ga. 1793}.
By Bill Thornton:
SOVEREIGNTY OF THE PEOPLE
The concept of sovereignty stands on its own. The sources shown
below may help you to see that it is a respected and valid concept.
"...at the Revolution, the sovereignty devolved on the people; and
they are truly the sovereigns of the country, but they are sovereigns
without subjects...with none to govern but themselves; the citizens of
America are equal as fellow citizens, and as joint tenants in the
sovereignty." CHISHOLM v. GEORGIA (US) 2 Dall 419, 454, 1 L Ed 440, 455
@DALL 1793 pp471-472
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. Through the medium of their Legislature they may
exercise all the powers which previous to the Revolution could have been
exercised either by the King alone, or by him in conjunction with his
Parliament; subject only to those restrictions which have been imposed
by the Constitution of this State or of the U.S.
Lansing v. Smith, 21 D. 89., 4 Wendel 9 (1829) (New York)
"D." = Decennial Digest
Lansing v. Smith, 4 Wend. 9 (N.Y.) (1829), 21 Am.Dec. 89
10C Const. Law Sec. 298; 18 C Em.Dom. Sec. 3, 228;
37 C Nav.Wat. Sec. 219; Nuls Sec. 1`67; 48 C Wharves Sec. 3, 7.
NOTE: Am.Dec.=American Decision, Wend. = Wendell (N.Y.)
California Government Code Sections 11120 and 54950 contain strong
statements about the sovereignty of the people.
CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT CODE
SECTION 11120 et seq.
11120. It is the public policy of this state that public agencies
exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business and the proceedings
of public agencies be conducted openly so that the public may remain
informed.
In enacting this article the Legislature finds and declares that it
is the intent of the law that actions of state agencies be taken openly
and that their deliberation be conducted openly.
The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the
agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not
give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the
people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist
on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the
instruments they have created.
This article shall be known and may be cited as the Bagley-Keene Open
Meeting Act.
CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT CODE
SECTION 54950 et seq.
54950. In enacting this chapter, the Legislature finds and
declares that the public commissions, boards and councils and the other
public agencies in this State exist to aid in the conduct of the
people's business. It is the intent of the law that their actions be
taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly.
The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the
agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not
give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the
people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist
on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the
instruments they have created.
54950.5. This chapter shall be known as the Ralph M. Brown Act.
SOVEREIGNTY
Black's Law Dictionary, Fourth Edition
The power to do everything in a state without
accountability,--to make laws, to execute and to apply them, to impose
and collect taxes and levy contributions, to make war or peace, to form
treaties of alliance or of commerce with foreign nations, and the like.
Story, Const. Sec 207
Sovereignty in government is that public authority which directs or
orders what is to be done by each member associated in relation to the
end of the association. It is the supreme power by which any citizen is
governed and is the person or body of persons in teh state to whom there
is politically no superior. The necessary existence of the state and
that right and power which necessarily follow is "sovereignty." By
"sovereignty in its largest sense is meant supreme, absolute,
uncontrollable power, the absolute right to govern. The word which by
itself comes nearest to being the definition of "sovereignty" is will or
volition as applied to political affairs. City of Bisbee v. Cochise
County, 52 Ariz. 1, 78 P.2d 982, 986.
STATE
Black's Law Dictionary, Fourth Edition
A People permanently occupying a fixed territory bound together
by common-law habits and custom into one body politic exercising,
through the medium of an organized government, independent sovereignty
and control over all persons and things within its boundaries, capable
of making war and peace and of entering into international relations
with other communities of the globe. United States v. Kusche, D.C.Cal.,
56 F.Supp. 201, 207, 208. The organization of social life which
exercises sovereign power in behalf of the people. Delany v. Moraitis,
C.C.A.Md., 136 F.2d 129, 130.
California Government Code
Deering's
241. Citizens
The citizens of the State are:
(a) All persons born in the State and residing within it, except the
children of transient aliens and of alien public ministers and consuls.
(b) All persons born out of the State who are citizens of the United
States and residing within the State.
CONSTITUTIONAL PREAMBLES
Constitution for the United States of America: We the People
of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,
establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the
common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the
Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
1849 California Constitution: WE the people of California,
grateful to Almighty God for our freedom: in order to secure its
blessings, do establish this Constitution--
1879 State of California Constitution: We, the People of
the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom,
in order to secure and perpetuate its blessings, do establish this
Constitution.
In all three constitutions (and the constitution of any real republic)
the operative word is "establish." The People existed in their own
individual sovereignty before the constitution was enabled. When the
People "establish" a constitution, there is nothing in the word
"establish" that signifies that they have yielded any of their
sovereignty to the agency they have created. To interpret otherwise
would convert the republic into a democracy (see
Republic
vs. Democracy; also see conditions of
admission of
California to the union). Also, see the legislated notice from the
People to the government written in the California Government Codes
11120 and 54950 quoted above.
To deprive the People of their sovereignty it is first necessary to
get the People to agree to submit to the authority of the entity they
have created. That is done by getting them to claim they are citizens of
that entity (see Const. for the U.S.A., XIV Amendment, for the
definition of a citizen of the United States.)
14 C.J.S. 426, 430
The particular meaning of the word "citizen" is frequently dependent
on the context in which it is found[25], and the word must always be
taken in the sense which best harmonizes with the subject matter in
which it is used[26].
One may be considered a citizen for some purposes and not a citizen
for other purposes, as, for instance, for commercial purposes, and not
for political purposes[27]. So, a person may be a citizen in the sense
that as such he is entitled to the protection of his life, liberty, and
property, even though he is not vested with the suffrage or other
political rights[28].
[25] Cal.--Prowd v. Gore, 2 Dist. 207 P. 490. 57 C.A. 458.
[26] Cal.--Prowd v. Gore. 2 Dist. 207 P. 490. 57 C.A. 458.
La.--Lepenser v Griffin, 83 So. 839, 146 La. 584
N.Y.--Union Hotel Co. v. Hersee, 79 N.Y. 454
[27] U.S.--The Friendschaft, N.C., 16 U.S. 14, 3 Wheat. 14, 4 L.Ed. 322
--Murray v. The Charming Betsy, 6 U.S. 64, 2 Cranch 64, 2
L.Ed. 208
Md.--Risewick v. Davis, 19 Md. 82
Mass.--Judd v. Lawrence, 1 Cush 531
R.I.--Greeough v. Tiverton Police Com'rs, 74 A 785, 30 R.I. 212
[28] Mass.--Dillaway v. Burton, 153 N.E. 13, 256 Mass. 568
MISCELLANEOUS
"The very meaning of 'sovereignty' is that the decree of the
sovereign makes law." American Banana Co. v. United Fruit Co., 29 S.Ct.
511, 513, 213 U.S. 347, 53 L.Ed. 826, 19 Ann.Cas. 1047.
"'Sovereignty' means that the decree of sovereign makes law, and
foreign courts cannot condemn influences persuading sovereign to make
the decree." Moscow Fire Ins. Co. of Moscow, Russia v. Bank of New York
& Trust Co., 294 N.Y.S. 648, 662, 161 Misc. 903.
RESERVATION OF SOVEREIGNTY: "[15] (b) Even if the Tribe's power to
tax were derived solely from its power to exclude non-Indians from the
reservation, the Tribe has the authority to impose the severance tax.
Non-Indians who lawfully enter tribal lands remain subject to a tribe's
power to exclude them, which power includes the lesser power to tax or
place other conditions on the non-Indian's conduct or continued presence
on the reservation. The Tribe's role as commercial partner with
petitioners should not be confused with its role as sovereign. It is
one thing to find that the Tribe has agreed to sell the right to use the
land and take valuable minerals from it, and quite another to find that
the Tribe has abandoned its sovereign powers simply because it has not
expressly reserved them through a contract. To presume that a sovereign
forever waives the right to exercise one of its powers unless it
expressly reserves the right to exercise that power in a commercial
agreement turns the concept of sovereignty on its head. MERRION ET
AL., DBA MERRION & BAYLESS, ET AL. v. JICARILLA APACHE TRIBE ET AL.
1982.SCT.394 , 455 U.S. 130, 102 S. Ct. 894, 71
L. Ed. 2d 21, 50 U.S.L.W. 4169 pp. 144-148. (Bold emphasis added here)
United States and State of California are two separate sovereignties,
each dominant within its own sphere. Redding v Los Angeles (1947) 81
CA2d 888, 185 P2d 430, app dismd 334 US 825, 92 L Ed 1754, 68 S Ct 1338
As independent sovereignty, it is State's province and duty to forbid
interference by another state or foreign power with status of its own
citizens. Roberts v Roberts (1947) 81 CA2d 871, 185 P2d 381. Black's Law
Dictionary, 4th Ed., p 1300
A county is a person in a legal sense, Lancaster Co. v. Trimble, 34
Neb. 752, 52 N.W. 711; but a sovereign is not; In re Fox, 52 N.Y. 535,
11 Am.Rep. 751; U.S. v. Fox 94 U.S. 315, 24 L.Ed. 192 .... Black's Law
Dictionary, 4th Ed., p 1300
A person is such, not because he is human, but because rights and
duties are ascribed to him. The person is the legal subject or substance
of which the rights and duties are attributes. An individual human being
considered as having such attributes is what lawyers call a "natural
person." Pollock, First Book of Jurispr. 110. Gray, Nature and Sources
of Law, ch. II. Black's Law Dictionary, 4th Edition, p 1300
The terms "citizen" and "citizenship" are distinguishable from
"resident" or "inhabitant." Jeffcott v. Donovan, C.C.A.Ariz., 135 F.2d
213, 214; and from "domicile," Wheeler v. Burgess, 263 Ky. 693, 93
S.W.2d 351, 354; First Carolinas Joint Stock Land Bank of Columbia v.
New York Title & Mortgage Co., D.C.S.C., 59 F.2d 35j0, 351. The words
"citizen" and citizenship," however, usually include the idea of
domicile, Delaware, L.&W.R.Co. v. Petrowsky, C.C.A.N.Y., 250 F. 554,
557; citizen inhabitant and resident often synonymous, Jonesboro Trust
Co. v. Nutt, 118 Ark. 368, 176 S.W. 322, 324; Edgewater Realty Co. v.
Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co., D.C.Md., 49 F.Supp. 807, 809; and
citizenship and domicile are often synonymous. Messick v. Southern Pa.
Bus Co., D.C.Pa., 59 F.Supp. 799, 800. Black's Law Dictionary, 4th Ed.,
p 310
Domicile and citizen are synonymous in federal courts, Earley v.
Hershey Transit Co., D.C. Pa., 55 F.Supp. 981, 982; inhabitant, resident
and citizen are synonymous, Standard Stoker Co. v. Lower, D.C.Md., 46
F.2d 678, 683. Black's Law Dictionary, 4th Ed., p 311
The Constitution emanated from the people and was not the act of
sovereign and independent States.*1 The preamble contemplates the body
of electors composing the states, the terms "people" and "citizens"
being synonymous. Negroes, whether free or slaves, were not included in
the term "people of the United States at that time.*2 *1 McCulloch v.
Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316 [1819]. See also Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dall.
419, 470 [1793]; Penhallow v. Doane, 3 Dall. 54, 93 [1795]; Martin v.
Hunter, 1 Wheat. 304, 324 [1816]; Barron v. Baltimore, 7 Pet. 247
[1833]. *2 Scott v. Sandford, 19 How 393, 404 [1857].
The words "sovereign state" are cabalistic words, not understood by
the disciple of liberty, who has been instructed in our constitutional
schools. It is our appropriate phrase when aplied to an absolute
despotism. The idea of sovereign power in the government of a republic
is incompatible with the existence and foundation of civil liberty and
the rights of property. Gaines v. Buford, 31 Ky. (1 Dana) 481, 501.
Government: Republican Government. One in which the powers of
sovereignty are vested in the people and are exercised by the people,
either directly, or through representatives chosen by the people, to
whom those powers are specially delegated. In re Duncan, 139 U.S. 449,
11 S.Ct. 573, 35 L.Ed. 219; Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. (21 Wall.) 162,
22 L.Ed. 627. Black's Law Dictionary, Fifth Edition, p. 626
Democracy. That form of government in which the sovereign power
resides in and is exercised by the whole body of free citizens directly
or indirectly through a system of representation, as distinguished from
a monarchy, aristocracy, or oligarchy. Black's Law Dictionary, Fifth
Edition, p. 388 |
