William Blackstone’s phrase “intentions at the time when the law was made” has come to be truncated into the term “original intent”.
Related Topics
“Usurpation” and “Tyranny”
"Usurpation"“Usurpation” – the exercise of some otherwise legitimate governmental power as to which the particular actor actor enjoys no legal claim.Source: John Locke, Two Treatises of Government,...
“Official Immunity”
"Official Immunity"The Constitution itself provides for one and only one “official immunity”, in its allowance that, “for any Speech or Debate in either House...
“Factions” or “Special Interest” Groups
"Factions" or "Special Interest" GroupsAmerica’s Founding Fathers denounced “factions” (what we refer to today as “special interests”) because these groups consist of “a number of citizens,...
“Living” Constitution
As a constitutional rule of construction that cannot be repeated to often, “If *** we are at liberty to give old words new meanings ***...
“War”: The Constitutional Meaning
"War": The Constitutional MeaningConstitutionally speaking, "War" is a specific set of legal relations between two or more independent nations. Therefore no "War" can be...


































