Privilege

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Privilege

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The following expands on THIS POST which discusses privilege taxes in regards to motor vehicles.


BIBLE

The word “privilege” is not found in the KJV.


DEFINITIONS

Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
PRIV'ILEGE, noun [Latin privilegium; privus, separate, private, and lex, law; originally a private law, some public act that regarded an individual.]

1. A particular and peculiar benefit or advantage enjoyed by a person, company or society, beyond the common advantages of other citizens. A privilege may be a particular right granted by law or held by custom, or it may be an exemption from some burden to which others are subject. The nobles of Great Britain have the privilege of being triable by their peers only. Members of parliament and of our legislatures have the privilege of exemption from arrests in certain cases. The powers of a banking company are privileges granted by the legislature.
He pleads the legal privilege of a Roman.
The privilege of birthright was a double portion.

2. Any peculiar benefit or advantage, right or immunity, not common to others of the human race. Thus we speak of national privileges, and civil and political privileges, which we enjoy above other nations. We have ecclesiastical and religious privileges secured to us by our constitutions of government. Personal privileges are attached to the person; as those of embassadors, peers, members of legislatures, etc. Real privileges are attached to place; as the privileges of the king's palace in England.

3. Advantage; favor; benefit.
A nation despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral.
Writ of privilege is a writ to deliver a privileged person from custody when arrested in a civil suit.

PRIV'ILEGE, verb transitive To grant some particular right or exemption to; to invest with a peculiar right or immunity; as, to privilege representatives from arrest; to privilege the officers and students of a college from military duty.
1. To exempt from ensure or danger.
This place doth privilege me.
Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, 1856
PRIVILEGE, civil law.

1. A right which the nature of a debt gives to a creditor, and which entitles him to be preferred before other creditors. Louis. Code, art. 3153; Dict. de Juris. art. Privilege: Domat, Lois Civ. liv. 2, t. 1, s. 4, n. 1.

2. Creditors of the same rank of privileges, are paid in concurrence, that is, on an equal footing. Privileges may exist either in movables, or immovables, or both at once. They are general or special, on certain movables. The debts which are privileged on all the movables in general, are the following, which are paid in this order. 1. Funeral charges. 2. Law charges, which are such as are occasioned by the prosecution of a suit before the courts. But this name applies more particularly to costs, which the party cast has to pay to the party gaining the cause. It is in favor of these only that the law grants the privilege. 3. Charges, of whatever nature, occasioned by the last sickness, concurrently among those to whom they are due; see Last sickness. 4. The wages of servants for the year past, and so much as is due for the current year. 5. Supplies of provisions made to the debtor or his family during the last six months, by retail dealers, such as bakers, butchers, grocers; and during the last year by keepers of boarding houses and taverns. 6. The salaries of clerks, secretaries, and other persons of that kind. 7. Dotal rights, due to wives by their husbands.

3. The debts which are privileged on particular movables, are, 1. The debt of a workman or artisan for the price of his labor, on the movable which he has repaired, or made, if the thing continues still in his possession. 2. That debt on the pledge which is in the creditor's possession. 3. The carrier's charges and accessory expenses on the thing carried. 4. The price due on movable effects, if they are yet in the possession of the purchaser; and the like. See Lien.

4. Creditors have a privilege on immovables, or real estate in some, cases, of which the following are instances: 1. The vendor on the estate by him sold, for the payment of the price, or so much of it as is due whether it be sold on or without a credit. 2. Architects and undertakers, bricklayers and other workmen employed in constructing, rebuilding or repairing houses, buildings, or making other works on such houses, buildings, or works by them constructed, rebuilt or repaired. 3. Those who have supplied the owner with materials for the construction or repair of an edifice or other work, which he has erected or repaired out of these materials, on the edifice or other work constructed or repaired. Louis. Code, art. 3216. See, generally, as to privilege. Louis. Code, tit. 21; Code Civ. tit. 18; Dict. de Juris. tit. Privilege; Lien; Last sickness; Preference.

PRIVILEGE, rights.

1. This word, taken its active sense, is a particular law, or a particular disposition of the law, which grants certain special prerogatives to some persons, contrary to common right. In its passive sense, it is the same prerogative granted by the same particular law.

2. Examples of privilege may be found in all systems of law; members of congress and of the several legislatures, during a certain time, parties and witnesses while attending court; and coming to and returning from the same; electors, while going to the election, remaining on the ground, or returning from the same, are all privileged from arrest, except for treason, felony or breach of the peace.

3. Privileges from arrest for civil cases are either general and absolute, or limited and qualified as to time or place.

4. 1. In the first class may be mentioned ambassadors, and their servants, when the debt or duty has been contracted by the latter since they entered into the service of such ambassador; insolvent debtors duly discharged under the insolvent laws; in some places, as in Pennsylvania, women for any debt by them contracted; and in general, executors and administrators, when sued in their representative character, though they have been held to bail. 2 Binn. 440.

5. 2. In the latter class may be placed, 1st. Members of congress this privilege is strictly personal, and is not only his own, or that of his constituent, but also that of the house of which he is a member, which every man is bound to know, and must take notice of. Jeff. Man. §3; 2 Wils. R. 151; Com. Dig. Parliament, D. 17. The time during which the privilege extends includes all the period of the session of congress, and a reasonable time for going to, and returning from the seat of government. Jeff. Man. §3; Story, Const. §§856 to 862; 1 Kent, Com. 221; 1 Dall. R. 296. The same privilege is extended to the members of the different state legislatures.

6. 2d. Electors under the constitution and laws of the United States, or of any state, are protected from arrest for any civil cause, or for any crime except treason, felony, or a breach of the peace, eundo, morando, et redeundo, that is, going to, staying at, or returning from the election.

7. 3d. Militia men, while engaged in the performance of military duty, under the laws, and eundo, morando et redeundo.

8. 4th. All persons who, either necessarily or of right are attending any court or forum of justice, whether as judge, juror, party interested or witness, and eundo, morando et redeundo. See 6 Mass. R, 245; 4 Dall. R. 329, 487; 2 John. R. 294; 1 South. R. 366; 11 Mass. R. 11; 3 Cowen, R. 381; 1 Pet. C. C. R. 41.

9. Ambassadors are wholly exempt from arrest for civil or criminal cases.
Black’s Law Dictionary, 1st Edition, 1891
PRIVILEGE.

A particular and peculiar benefit or advantage enjoyed by a person, company, or class, beyond the common advantages of other citizens. An exceptional or extraordinary power or exemption. A right, power, franchise, or immunity held by a person or class, against or beyond the course of the law.

Privilege is an exemption from some burden or attendance, with which certain persons are indulged, from a supposition of law that the stations they fill, or the offices they are engaged in, are such as require all their time and care, and that, therefore, without this indulgence, it would be impracticable to execute such offices to that advantage which the public good requires. 1 Pin. 118.

In the civil law. A right which the nature of a debt gives to a creditor, and which entitles him to be preferred before other creditors. Civil Code La. art. 3186.

In maritime law. An allowance to the master of a ship of the same general nature with primage, being compensation, or rather a gratuity, customary in certain trades, and which the law assumes to be a fair and equitable allowance, because the contract on both sides is made under the knowledge of such usage by the parties. 3 Chit. Commer. Law,431.
The Century Dictionary, an Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, 1895
Privilege (n)

1. An ordinance in favor of an individual.

2. A right, immunity, benefit, or advantage enjoyed by a person or body of persons beyond the common advantages of other individuals; the enjoyment of some desirable right, or an exemption from some evil or burden ; a private or personal favor enjoyed ; a peculiar advantage.

3. An advantage yielded; superiority.

4. In law: (a) A special and exclusive right conferred by law on particular persons or classes of persons, and ordinarily in derogation of the common right. Sncli grants were often sought to be justified on grounds of public utility, but were, to a greater or less extent, really intended to benefit the privileged person or persons.

(b) The law, rule, or grant conferring such a right, (c) In the civil law, a lien or priority of right of payment, such as the artisans' privilege, corresponding to the common-law lien of a bailee or the lien under mechanics' lien-laws, carriers' privilege, inn-keepers' privilege, etc.

In this sense the word is more appropriately applicable to a preference secured by law, and not to one granted by special agreement.

(d) In some of the United States, the right of a licensee in a vocation which is forbidden except to licensees, (e) In modern times (since all have become generally equal before the law), one of the more sacred and vital rights common to all citizens: as, the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus ; the privileges of a citizen of the United States.

Privilege (v)

1. To grant some privilege to; bestow some particular right or exemption; invest with a peculiar right or immunity; exempt from censure or danger : as, to privilege diplomatic representatives from arrest; the privileged classes.

2. To exempt in any way; free : with from.

3. To authorize; license.
Black’s Law Dictionary, 2nd Edition, 1910
PRIVILEGE.

A particular and peculiar benefit or advantage enjoyed by a person, company, or class, beyond the common advantages of other citizens. An exceptional or extraordinary power or exemption. A right, power, franchise, or immunity held by a person or class, against or beyond the course of the law.
Privilege is an exemption from some burden or attendance, with which certain persons are indulged, from a supposition of law that the stations they fill, or the offices they are engaged in, are such as require all their time and care, and that, therefore, without this indulgence, it would be impracticable to execute such offices to that advantage which the public good requires.

In the civil law. A right which the nature of a debt gives to a creditor, and which entitles him to be preferred before other creditors. Civil Code La. art. 3186.

Privilege tax.

A tax on the privilege of carrying on a business for which a license or franchise is required. Adams v. Colonial Mortgage Co., 82 Miss. 263, 34 South. 482, 100 Am. St. Rep. 083: Gulf & Ship Island R. Co. v. Hewes, 183 U. S. 06, 22 Sup. Ct. 26, 46 L. Ed. SO: St Louis v. Western Union Tel. Co.. 14S U. S. 92, 13 Sup. Ct. 485, 37 L. Ed. 380
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 1919
Privilege

Right, advantage, immunity, belonging to person, class, or office; special advantage or benefit, as to converse with him was a p.; p. (benefit) of clergy; bill of p., petition of peer demanding to be tried by his peers ; writ of p., writ to deliver privileged person from custody when arrested in civil suit; monopoly, patent, granted to individual, corporation, &c; p. cab (admitted to stand for hire in private place esp. railway station) ; (v.t.) invest with p., allow (person to do) as p., exempt (person/rom burden &c ).
The Pocket Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 1942
Privilege

Right or advantage or immunity beonging to a person or class or office; advanyafe or favour that falls to few.

Webster’s New Practical Dictionary, 1957
Privilege

1. A right or exemption granted as a peculiar advantage or favor.

2. A franchise or patent.

3. Any of various fundamental or sacred rights, as the enjoyment of life and liberty, guaranteed to all persons by modern constitutional governments.

Black’s Law Dictionary, 4th Edition, 1968, 5th Edition, 1979
PRIVILEGE.

A particular and peculiar benefit or advantage enjoyed by a person, company, or class, beyond the common advantages of other citizens. An exceptional or extraordinary power or exemption. A right, power, franchise, or immunity held by a person or class, against or beyond the course of the law.

An exemption from some burden or attendance, with which certain persons are indulged, from a supposition of law that the stations they fill, or the offices they are engaged in, are such as require all their time and care, and that, therefore, without this indulgence, it would be impracticable to execute such offices to that advantage which the public good requires.

That which releases one from the performance of a duty or obligation, or exempts one from a liability which he would otherwise be required to perform, or sustain in common with all other persons.

A peculiar advantage, exemption, or immunity.

Civil Law - A right which the nature of a debt gives to a creditor, and which entitles him to be preferred before other creditors. Civil Code La. art. 3186. It is merely an accessory of the debt which it secures, and falls with the extinguishment of the debt. A. Baldwin & Co. v. McCain, 159 La. 966, 106 So. 459, 460. The civil-law privilege became, by adoption of the admiralty courts, the admiralty lien.

Privilege tax.

A tax on the privilege of carrying on a business for which a license or franchise is required.
Black’s Law Dictionary, 5th Edition, 1979

(Same as 4th edition, and…)
Torts. Privilege is the general term • applied to certain rules of law by which particular circumstances justify conduct which otherwise would be tortious, and thereby defeat the tort liability (or defense) which, in the absence of such circumstances, ordinarily would follow from that conduct. In other words, even if all of the facts necessary to a prima facie case of tort liability can be proved, there are additional facts present sufficient to establish some privilege, and therefore defendant has committed no tort. Privileges thus differ from other defenses, such as contributory negligence, which operate to bar plaintiffs recovery but do not negate the tortious nature of defendant's conduct. Conversely, plaintiffs privilege may defeat a defense which defendant otherwise might have had. The term and concept of privilege apply primarily to the intentional torts, but also appear in other areas, such as defamation. (See Libel and slander above.)

A privilege may be based upon: (a) the consent of the other affected by the actor's conduct, or (b) the fact that its exercise is necessary for the protection of some interest of the actor or of the public which is of such importance as to justify the harm caused or threatened by its exercise, or (c) the fact that the actor is performing a function for the proper performance of which freedom of action is essential. Restatement, Second, Torts, § 10.

Privileges may be divided into two general categories: ( 1 ) consent, and (2) privileges created by law irrespective of consent. In general, the latter arise where there is some important and overriding social value in sanctioning defendant’s conduct, despite the fact that it causes plaintiff harm.
WEX Legal Dictionary
Privilege

In the law of evidence, certain subject matters are privileged, and can not be inquired into in any way. Such privileged information is not subject to disclosure or discovery and cannot be asked about in testimony. Usually, privileges exist not because of a fear that information provided will be inaccurate, but because there are public policy reasons the information should not be disclosed.

Privileges and Immunities Clause

The Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution states that "the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states." This clause protects fundamental rights of individual citizens and restrains state efforts to discriminate against out-of-state citizens. However, the Privileges and Immunities Clause extends not to all commercial activity, but only to fundamental rights.

There has been a great deal of scholarly debate over the purpose of this constitutional provision. One source of insight as to the purpose of the privileges and immunities clause is its textual predecessor, Article IV of the the Articles of Confederation, which stated that "to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different States in this Union, the free inhabitants of each of these States . . . shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; and the people of each State shall free ingress and regress to and from any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions, and restrictions as the inhabitants thereof."

The Federalist Papers also provides some insight into the clause. Madison's Federalist No. 42. Madison stated: "Those who come under the denomination of free inhabitants of a State, although not citizens of such State, are entitled, in every other State, to all the privileges of free citizens of the latter; that is, to greater privileges than they may be entitled to in their own State . . . ." In Federalist No. 80, Hamilton expressed his belief in the clause's importance when he wrote that the Privileges and Immunities Clause (the version in the Constitution) is "the basis of the union."

Because of the ambiguity of the clause, much debate surrounds the particular rights which the Privileges and Immunities Clause protects. Some scholars believe that it protects the traditional common law rights conferred by particular states to their citizens. The majority opinion in Corfield v. Coryell, however, gives a different approach, stating that the clause protected only certain "fundamental" rights: "Protection by the government; the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the right to acquire and possess property of every kind, and to pursue and obtain happiness and safety; subject nevertheless to such restraints as the government may justly prescribe for the general good of the whole."

The majority opinion enumerates a few specific rights (such as the right to live in and travel through states, the right to sue in courts, etc), but also notes that this is not a comprehensive list.

Corfield became increasingly prominent in later years, particularly in the context of issues like slavery and universal suffrage.
MAXIMS

That which is not otherwise permitted, necessity allows, and necessity makes a privilege which supersedes the law.

A privilege is a personal benefit and dies with the person.

A privilege is, as it were, a private law.

One who migrates or emigrates will lose the rights, privileges, and immunities of his former domicile.

A privilege avails not against the commonwealth.

Privilege is of no force against the commonwealth. Even necessity does not excuse, where the act to be done is against the commonwealth.

That which is otherwise not permitted, necessity permits; and necessity makes a privilege as to private rights.

Necessity gives a privilege with reference to private rights.
The necessity involved in this maxim is of three kinds, viz.:
(1) Necessity of self preservation;
(2) of obedience; and
(3) necessity resulting from the act of God, or of a stranger.


MISCELLANEOUS CITATIONS

PACS Title 75
"Operating privilege." The privilege to apply for and obtain a license to use as well as the privilege to use a vehicle on a highway as authorized in this title, but not a contract, property right or civil right.
Boyd v. Thayer, 143 U.S. 135, 160.
"The privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States are those which arise out of the nature and essential characteristics of the National Government, the provisions of the Constitution, or its laws and treaties made in pursuance thereof."
State ex rel. Froedtert Grain and Malting Company v. Tax Commission of Wisconsin, 265 N.W. 672, 674.
"Privilege within statutes taxing privileges, is synonymous with right."
Molko v. Milton Birnbaum, 1982
"[She] assumed a legal identity other than `freeman' when she availed herself of the privilege of driving on public thoroughfares. Having availed herself of that privilege, she does, indeed, have the duty to specifically perform in accordance with the laws of the state."
Jack Cole Co. v. MacFarland (1960), 206 Tenn. 694, 337 S.W.2d 453, 455-456.
"It cannot be doubted that the Legislature can name any privilege a taxable privilege and tax itbut the legislature cannot name something a privilege unless it is first a privilege."
Salla v. Monroe County (1977)
"Citizens of the United States have at least the same rights and privileges as resident aliens."
Harvey v. U.S., D.C. Ill., 86 F.Supp. 609, 616.
"'Venue' involves a privilege which may be lost by failure to assert it seasonably by formal submission in a cause, or by submission through conduct."
Bronson, J., People v. Assessors of Village of Watertown, 1 Hill (N.Y.) 620.
"A corporation aggregate is a collection of individuals united in one body by such a grant of privileges as secures succession of members without changing the identity of the body and constitutes the members for the time being one artificial person or legal being capable of transacting the corporate business like a natural person. “
Cory v. Carter (1874), 48 Ind. 327, 17 Am.Rep. 738, 3 Am.LawRec. 669.
"Amendments 13, 14, and 15 restrict the State, while a member of the federal Union, from changing her Constitutions so as to create or establish slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been convicted, from denying to a citizen of the United States or depriving him of those national rights, privileges, and immunities, which belong to him as such citizen; require the state to recognize as its citizen any citizen of the United States who is or becomes a bona fide resident therein; and requires the state to give to each citizen therein the same rights, privileges, and immunities secured by her Constitution and laws to her white citizens."
People v. Utica Insurance Co. (1818), 15 Johns. 358.
"A franchise is a privilege in which the public have an interest, and which cannot be exercised without the authority of the sovereign."
Willamette Woolen Mfg. Co. v. Bank of British Columbia, Or., 119 U. S. 191.
"Any definition of the word 'franchise' must include the word 'privileges.’”
State of California v. Central Pacific R. R. Co. (1888), 8 S. C. 1073, 1080.
"What is a franchise? Under English law, Blackstone defines it as 'a royal privilege or a branch of the King's prerogative, subsisting in the hands of a subject.'"
QUOTES

Andrew Jackson:
Every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add… artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society -- the farmers, mechanics, and laborers -- who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government.
Dwight D. Eisenhower:
A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.
Paul Craig Roberts:
In U.S. politics, 'compassion' means giving money and privileges to well organized interest groups at everyone else's expense.
Voltaire:
Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.
Thomas Paine:
When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.
Noam Chomsky:
Moral cowardice and intellectual corruption are the natural concomitants of unchallenged privilege.
David Lloyd George:
Liberty is not merely a privilege to be conferred; it is a habit to be acquired.
Walter Lippmann:
A free press is not a privilege but an organic necessity in a great society.
Tertullian:
It is a fundamental human right, a privilege of nature, that every man should worship according to his own convictions. One man’s religion neither harms nor helps another man. It is assuredly no part of religion to compel religion, to which free will and not force should lead us.
John Jay:
Providence has given our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as privilege and interest, of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.
Friedrich August von Hayek:
The argument for liberty is not an argument against organization, which is one of the most powerful tools human reason can employ, but an argument against all exclusive, privileged, monopolistic organization, against the use of coercion to prevent others from doing better.
Theodore Roosevelt:
All privileges based on wealth, and all emnity to honest men merely because they are wealthy, are un-American.
Mother Teresa:
Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or sovereign. ... You must weep that your own government, at present, seems blind to this truth.
Rudyard Kipling:
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is hard business. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
Benjamin Franklin:
It is very imprudent to deprive America of any of her privileges. If her commerce and friendship are of any importance to you, they are to be had on no other terms than leaving her in the full enjoyment of her rights.
George Washington:
A passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one nation the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens who devote themselves to the favorite nation, facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.
Alexander Hamilton:
The fundamental source of all your errors, sophisms, and false reasonings, is a total ignorance of the natural rights of mankind. Were you once to become acquainted with these, you could never entertain a thought, that all men are not, by nature, entitled to a parity of privileges. You would be convinced, that natural liberty is a gift of the beneficent Creator, to the whole human race; and that civil liberty is founded in that; and cannot be wrested from any people, without the most manifest violation of justice. Civil liberty is only natural liberty, modified and secured by the sanctions of civil society. It is not a thing, in its own nature, precarious and dependent on human will and caprice; but it is conformable to the constitution of man, as well as necessary to the well-being of society.
Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoi:
Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking; where it is absent, discussion is apt to become worse than useless.
Patrick Henry:
If we would be free, if we mean to hold inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have so long contended, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble cause for which we have so long endured, and to which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon, until the glorious object of our contest should be obtained, then we must fight! I repeat Sir, we must fight! A call to arms and an appeal to the God of hosts is all that we have left.
Justice Joseph Story:
This provision (the 4th Amendment) speaks for itself. Its plain object is to secure the perfect enjoyment of that great right of the common law, that a man's house shall be his own castle, privileged against all civil and military intrusion.
John Marshall Harlan:
I cannot assent to the view, if it be meant that the legislature may impair or abridge the rights of a free press and of free speech whenever it thinks that the public welfare requires that it be done. The public welfare cannot override constitutional privilege.
Jacob G. Hornberger:
The cult of the omnipotent state has millions of followers in the united States. Americans of today view their government in the same way as Christians view their God; they worship and adore the state and they render their lives and fortunes to it. Statists believe that their lives -- their very being -- are a privilege that the state has given to them. They believe that everything they do is -- and should be -- dependent on the consent of the government. Thus, statists support such devices as income taxation, licensing laws, regulations, passports, trade restrictions, and the like.
Thomas Jefferson:
You seem ... to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. Our judges are as honest as other men, and not more so. They have, with others, the same passions for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps.... Their power [is] the more dangerous as they are in office for life, and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control. The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions of time and party, its members would become despots. It has more wisely made all the departments co-equal and co-sovereign within themselves.
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