Quote:
Originally posted by Spanky
Since the Bill of Rights was not applied to the states until after the Civil war, people rights in these states against state law had to come from somewhere. Before that West Wing Episode I had just assumed these rigths came from state constitutions. But now I realize that some of these rights may have come from a common law tradition (Just like England). So if a colonial or state government abused someones rights prior to the civil war people may have claimed these rights from the common law tradition.
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Another point: many of the federalists argued that the Bill of Rights were unnecessary because the rights set out were protected by common law. This argument sidestepped the fact that under traditional concepts of common law in England (at least since the English Civil War), sovereignty rested with parliament and parliament could effectively undo any rights granted by Common Law. The cases dealing with sovereignty in the U.S. have adopted and probably even expanded this concept.
