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Title: Popular Law-making

Author: Frederic Jesup Stimson

Release Date: May 2, 2004 [EBook #12235]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POPULAR LAW-MAKING ***

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POPULAR LAW-MAKING

A STUDY OF THE ORIGIN,

HISTORY, AND PRESENT TENDENCIES

OF LAW-MAKING BY STATUTE

BY

FREDERIC JESUP STIMSON

PROFESSOR OF COMPARATIVE LEGISLATION IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY

"NOW, MY LORD, I DO THINK, THAT PRACTICE AND USAGE IS A GREAT EVIDENCE OF THE LAW."—CHIEF JUSTICE HOLT, IN "THE GREAT CASE OF MONOPOLIES."—7 STATE TRIALS, 497

1911

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. THE ENGLISH IDEA OF LAW

    Proper Field of Legislation; Meaning of the Word "Law,"; Modern
    Importance of Statute Law; Representative Government and the Right
    to Law; Enforcement of the Common Law; Origin of Representative
    Legislatures; Customary or Natural Law; No Sanction Necessary;
    The Unwritten Law and Outlawry; Early Parliament Merely Judicial;
    Contrast of Common Law with Roman Law; Theory that the King Makes
    Law; Parliament Retains the Right to Tax; Parliament Recovers
    Legislative Powers.

II. EARLY ENGLISH LEGISLATION AND MAGNA CHARTA

    Constructive Legislation a New Idea; Statutes Increase of Late
    Years; Sociological Legislation only Considered; Early Legislation
    Political; English Law not Codified; Early Anglo-Saxon Laws;
    Freedom Gained in Guilds; Threefold Division of Government; No
    Constitution Controls Parliament; Restoration of English Law After
    the Conquest; Taxation by Common Consent; Earliest Social Statute;
    Recognition of Personal Property; Law of Land Tenure; The Charter
    of Liberties; Early Methods of Trial; Distinction Between Sin and
    Crime; Church Law Governs Sin; Important Clauses of Magna Charta;
    Freedom of Trade; Taxation for the Common Benefit; The Great
    "Liberty" Clause; "Administrative" Law not English; No Government
    Above Law.

III. RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF ANGLO-SAXON LAW.

Common Law Against Civil Law; "We Are Unwilling to Change the Laws of England;" Usury and the Jews; Towns Represented in Parliament; The Fixing of Prices; Sumptuary Laws; The Benefit of Clergy; Partial Codification; The Statute of Westminster I; Law Extended to All People; Labor Makes Men Free; The Freedom of Elections; "Cruel and Unusual Punishment"; Sexual Offences Made Secular Crimes; Earliest Duties on Imports; Early Duties on Wool; The Law of Wrecks.

IV. EARLY LABOR LEGISLATION, AND LAWS AGAINST RESTRAINT OF TRADE AND "TRUSTS"

Extortion and Discrimination; Forestalling, Regrating, Engrossing; The Statute of Bakers; Origin of Law of Conspiracy; The Law of Combination; The Modern Definition; Combinations Against Individuals; Intent Makes the Guilt; Conspiracy More Heinous than the Act Committed; Combinations to Injure Trade; Individual Injuries to Business; Definition of Forestalling; "The Iowa Idea"; The Statutes of Labor; First Statute of Laborers; A Fixed Wage; Early Law of Strikes; Early Law of Trades-Unions; Labor Conditions in Early Times; Combinations to Fix Prices; Unlawful By-Laws of Unions; Restraint of Trade; The Eight to Labor; The Earliest Boycott; Origin of the Injunction in Labor Cases; The Common Law Vindicated; Compulsory Labor in England; Free Trade to Merchants; Jealousy of Chancery Power; Guilds and Corporations; Chancery and the Star Chamber; By-Laws Tending to Monopoly; Hours of Labor Laws; Idlers and Vagabonds; Trusts and Labor Combinations; Riots and Assemblies; The Statute of Elizabeth; Early Labor Regulations; The First Poor Law; The First Complaint of Monopolies; Growth of Monopolies; The Statute of Monopolies; The Impeachment of Monopolists.

V. OTHER LEGISLATION IN MEDIAEVAL ENGLAND

    The Statute of Mortmain; The Law Merchant; Origin of Habeas
    Corpus; Early Police Regulation; Opposition to Customs Duties;
    Interpretation of the Great Charter; Statute Against Chancery
    Jurisdiction; Early Tariffs on Wool; The English Language Replaces
    French; Freedom of Trade at Sea; Laws of the Staple; Early Food
    Laws Forbidding Trusts, etc.; The Statutes of Dogger; Department
    Stores and Double Trading; Freedom of Trade Restored; Jealousy of
    the Roman Law; Laws Against Scotch, Welsh, and Irish; Injunctions
    Issued Against Seduction; The First Statute of Limitations;
    Personal Government Under Henry VIII; Laws Against Middlemen;
    Final Definitions of Forestalling, Regrating, Engrossing; The
    First Poor Law and Forestry Law; The First Trading Corporations;
    The Heresy Statutes; James I, Legislation Against Sins; Cromwell's
    Legislation; The First Business Corporation; Corporations Invented
    to Gain Monopoly; Growth of the Trade Guilds; Veterans' Preference
    Legislation.

VI. AMERICAN LEGISLATION IN GENERAL.

    Early Increase of State Legislation; The State Constitutions; When
    Statutes Should Be Unconstitutional; Effect of the Initiative and
    Referendum; The True Value of Precedent.

VII. AMERICAN LEGISLATION ON PROPERTY RIGHTS

    Proper Classification of Statutes; Anarchism, Individualism,
    Socialism; Definition of Communism; Definition of Nationalism;
    Property a Constitutional Right; Not a Natural Right; Socialism
    Unconstitutional; Eminent Domain; What Are Public Uses;
    Irrigation, Drainage, etc.; Internal Improvements; Bounties;
    Exemptions from Taxation; Limits Upon Tax Rate; Income Taxes;
    Inheritance Taxes; License Taxes; Betterment Taxes; Double
    Taxation; The Police Power; Government by Commission; Noxious
    Trades, Signs, etc.; Modern Extensions of Police Power; Pure Food
    and Drug Laws; Prohibition Laws; Oleomargarine Laws; Examinations
    for Professions; Christian Science and Osteopathy; Trading Stamps
    and Department Stores; Usury Laws; Negotiable Instrument Laws;
    Bills of Lading and Warehouse Receipts; Sales in Bulk; Intestate
    Succession; Laws for Protection of Debtors; Mechanics' Lien Laws;
    Mortgage Foreclosures; Nuisances; The Buying of Futures; Tips and
    Commissions; Weights and Measures; Laws Against Middlemen.