I am not augmenting, I am absolutely disagreeing.
Court of Record
COMMENTARY
This writer concludes, from the definitions below, that a
court of record is a court which must meet the following
criteria:
1. generally has a seal
2. power to fine or imprison for contempt
3. keeps a record of the proceedings
4. proceeding according to the common law (not statutes or codes)
5. the tribunal is independent of the magistrate (judge)
Note that a judge is a magistrate and is not the tribunal.
The tribunal is either the sovereign himself, or a fully
empowered jury (not paid by the government)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Black's Law Dictionary, 4th Ed., 425, 426
COURT. ...
INTERNATIONAL LAW
The person and suite of the sovereign; the place where the
sovereign sojourns with his regal retinue, wherever that may be.
....
CLASSIFICATION
Courts may be classified and divided according to several
methods, the following being the more usual:
COURTS OF RECORD and COURTS NOT OF RECORD. The former being
those whose acts and judicial proceedings are enrolled, or
recorded, for a perpetual memory and testimony, and which have
power to fine or imprison for contempt. Error lies to their
judgments, and they generally possess a seal. Courts not of
record are those of inferior dignity, which have no power to fine
or imprison, and in which the proceedings are not enrolled or
recorded. 3 Bl. Comm. 24; 3 Steph. Comm. 383; The Thomas
Fletcher, C.C.Ga., 24 F. 481; Ex parte Thistleton, 52 Cal 225;
Erwin v. U.S., D.C.Ga., 37 F. 488, 2 L.R.A. 229; Heininger v.
Davis, 96 Ohio St. 205, 117 N.E. 229, 231.
A "court of record" is a judicial tribunal having attributes
and exercising functions independently of the person of the
magistrate designated generally to hold it, and proceeding
according to the course of common law, its acts and proceedings
being enrolled for a perpetual memorial. Jones v. Jones, 188
Mo.App. 220, 175 S.W. 227, 229; Ex parte Gladhill, 8 Metc. Mass.,
171, per Shaw, C.J. See, also, Ledwith v. Rosalsky, 244 N.Y.
406, 155 N.E. 688, 689.
....
----------------------------------------------------------------
Webster's New Practical Dictionary, 386 (1953)
G. & C. Merriam Co., Springfield, Mass.
MAGISTRATE
A person holding official power in a government; as: a The
official of highest rank in a government (chief, or first,
magistrate). b An official of a class having summary, often
criminal, jurisdiction.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Merriam-Webster On-Line Dictionary
MAGISTRATE
an official entrusted with administration of the laws
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Black's Law Dictionary, 4th Ed., 1103
MAGISTRATE
Person clothed with power as a public civil officer. State
ex rel. Miller v. McLeod, 142 Fla. 254, 194 So. 628, 630.
A public officer belonging to the civil organization of the
state, and invested with powers and functions which may be either
judicial, legislative, or executive. But the term is commonly
used in a narrower sense, designating, in England, a person
intrusted with the commission of the peace, and, in America, one
of the class of inferior judicial officers, such as justices of
the peace and police justices. Martin v. State, 32 Ark. 124; Ex
parte White, 15 Nev. 146, 37 Am.Rep. 466; State v. Allen, 83 Fla.
655, 92 So. 155, 156; Merritt v. Merritt, 193 Iowa 899, 188 N.W.
32, 34.
....
The word "magistrate" does not necessarily imply an officer
exercising any judicial functions, and might very well be held to
embrace notaries and commissioners of deeds. Schultz v.
Merchants' Ins. Co., 57 Mo. 336.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
California Penal Code
7. Words and phrases....The following words have in this
code the signification attached to them in this section, unless
otherwise apparent from the context:....
9. The word "magistrate" signifies any one of the
officers mentioned in Section 808. ....
807. Magistrate defined. A magistrate is an officer having
power to issue a warrant for the arrest of a person charged with
a public offense. (Enacted 1872.)
808. Persons designated as magistrates The following
persons are magistrates:
1. The judges of the Supreme Court
2. The judges of the courts of appeal.
3. The judges of the superior courts.
4. The judges of the municipal courts.
5. The judges of the justice courts.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by jetgraphics
JG: If you are augmenting the original statement that there are no constitutional "common law" courts, great. If not, I have no evidence or authority that states that there are constitutional common law courts.
(I did find old cites wherein one ruled that the common law was too harsh for a democracy)
However, I first learned of it while reading the Encyclopedia of Georgia Law. It stated that at the ratification of the USCON, all common law courts in Georgia were abolished. Interestingly, in the Federalist Papers, it mentions that Georgia (before CON) had nothing but common law courts.
If I infer correctly, the power to convene a common law court is the prerogative of a sovereign. Since all state governments have submitted to the supremacy of the U.S.CON, they ceased to have the standing to convene common law courts. (The English monarchy empowers common law courts in the commonwealth, apparently.)
However, that does not prevent private property owners with sovereign status from exercising their natural liberty.
A good example is the power to inflict capital punishment without convening a trial, as in the case with private property posted with "No Trespassing, Trespassers will be shot."
I assume that a sovereign property owner might convene a trial before shooting the trespasser, but it's unnecessary.
:-)
|