Open Cases

Government by precedent, without any regard to the principle of the precedent, is one of the vilest systems that can be set up.

Thomas Paine (1791-92) The Rights of Man
in The Thomas Paine Reader, edited by Michael Foot and Isaac Kramnick, p. 296.

The idea behind Open Cases is that a better understanding of natural rights can come from an open discussion of specific cases.

These cases are best left fictional, to spare the unfairly accused from our ignorance. Each fiction, with its own facts, may of course, be based on a real-life story, however it must be explicitly distinct.

An exception to this will be cases involving government action or law, in which case the governments, constitutions, laws, and acts in question may be real.

Open Cases hopes to imagine and develop precedents, out of each determination whether someone has stayed within his or her own rights. Remember that such determinations do not explore whether this behavior is ethical or desirable. There may be natural consequences that may follow that are deleterious. The question here is solely, "Does he or she or they have the right to do this?"

This is basically a petri dish, out of which I hope a structure of common law will arise, law in this case without penalty. Determinations will be decisions on (1) was the behaviour within someone's rights?, and (2) to whom does property in question belong? Some cases may be too fuzzy for a determination. Some cases may be too complex. That's okay.

As the quote above suggests, precedent for its own sake, alone without principle, is not what Open Cases is after. Precedent does give weight. Law is raw and unrefined at first. With time, as it ages, it matures and strengthens, naturally. But sometimes, as in science, changes are inevitable once new facts arise and the demands of conscience and integrity strengthen.

There will be filters here (above and beyond your natural rights, by the way). One is reason, by which we find contradiction. Another is conscience, by which we determine basic natural rights. Finally, there is goodwill, by which we extend our hand in friendship and mean well to all. Any contributions that are egregiously contrary to these principles, the administrators will proactively delete with prejudice. Some examples of behavior not welcome here - (1) irrational religion, (2) verbal abuse, (3) racism. You don't have to wear a tie in this courtroom, but you must be act civilly.

I expect this to start slowly. If nothing else, it's just a place for me to record individual cases that I imagine. At the same time, I did want to have something in the Free Pirate effort that is open to the active participation of others.

For simplicity of attribution, all contributions become attributable to "Free Pirate - Open Cases". Within the wiki, of course, individual contributions I assume will be properly attributed by WetPaint.



For those of you who are curious why Free Pirate uses this Creative Commons License, please read Why I Am an Abolitionist. "I believe in a right to attribution, which could be regulated much like copyright."

Reference: Solonian Journal - On Rights