Community Justice
Community Justice
Common Law is a human law.
There are three definitions of common law:
- That which derives its force and authority from the universal consent and immemorial practice of the community – Oxford English Dictionary.
- The unwritten law derived from the traditional law of England. – Ibid OED
- The unwritten law derived from the traditional law of England and as developed by judicial precedence, interpretation, expansion and modification: – Dietrich V R 1992 177 CLR 292
There is two ways laws are created: by the Parliament and by the people through common Law initiatives, petitions to Parliament, challenges in court, and referendum.
“Only the people can take away the common law right because the common law right is not owned by the Parliament, but by the people. The common law is therefore, self-evident” (Coco vs. The Queen, 1994. Butterworth’s Legal Dictionary, p 221)
Recently I had an opportunity to witness a fine example of common law in action in the community.
Living in the city for many years and not having a break away for a while I decided to go for a drive and spend time in the country. Left Sydney and headed north and when I reached Taree I decided to stop and have a look at the beach.
Taree and Beach
I drove to the access and parking area leading into the beach but did not drive in straight away. I couldn’t, because it was so busy with cars driving in and out. For an instant I was confused and thought this was incredibly unorganized.
Why did I think that? Because there were no arrows or “in” and “out” signs. I thought, how on earth could this happen? Taree council must really be incompetent. I mean here it is…. and there are two driveways here. How am I supposed to know which one to use to drive in safely?
In actual fact it only took me a few seconds of observation to see how this complex system was working and without any council signs. The traffic although moving fast, was in a flow. They were all moving in one direction. One way in and one way out and operations running very smoothly.
At that moment I realized how simple the natural flow was and it was the natural thing to do. It felt good. It’s refreshing to see people using their own common sense while in control of a car. I realized that we didn’t need council signs to do our thinking for us. Not in the country anyway.
How could I have thought this parking spot in the bush was not manageable without council signs? I drove in feeling really good about my self that I had worked out the complex system without the aid of signs.
Common Law is Common Sense.
I stayed a short while enjoying the scenery before heading off. As I’m leaving I heard a loud voice calling out. I looked around to see that someone had driven their car in the wrong way. The traffic had jammed up and the cars wanting to leave could not because this car had come in the wrong way. He’s soon made aware by the community and I heard him say “there’s no signs” He was told “There’s no need for signs if you just look and use your common sense.
He was told how silly he is was for not observing the flow before entering in and disrupting the flow. I see this as a fine example of true common law in action. City dwellers can learn how to get in touch with this that they have lost. learn how to claim back human rights and much, much more by attending an UPMART Common Law Course (UCLC) . Learn the laws of the community that have been forgotten. It’s so simple but the example here demonstrates how the individual has lost their basic sense of direction in many simple everyday living activities. When this happens we then become vulnerable to abuse and to some silly statute laws that are made just to take our money. Especially for those people who live in the cities and the law was not meant for that.
Best regards,
Jill Brown.
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7 Comments
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May 30th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
-Jo Carey-Bradshaw
I really enjoyed this post, Jill
I tend to work on common-sense as a basic value – and I really like your tale highlighting that mostly this is all just an ‘awareness’ concept. That bloke probably would have been the first in line to ‘explain’ had the same thing happened in Bunnings, or BCF. We can all do well to be aware of our attitudes more often. Thank you.
From what I know, Common Law is just plain Common Sense. I am glad you remind me we can raise our awareness within the communities.
-Jo Carey-Bradshaw´s last blog ..Empowering Mindset – Obstacles or Pffffffft
May 31st, 2010 at 12:32 am
Jill Brown
Hi Jo,
You are quite right, we do need to raise our awareness in many everyday activities. It could save hassles by not making silly mistakes… just by not looking.. Sad thing is that if the Taree driver had made that mistake in the city he could be fined, and solely because a sign was in place and not because anyone was disadvantaged at the time.
May 31st, 2010 at 2:33 am
Jim
Well written Jill. Your blog has great potential to enlighten and educate people regarding their rights, liberties and the commonwealth constitution one spoonful at a time. lol
May 31st, 2010 at 5:01 am
Jill Brown
Hi Jim,
Thank you. You have wonderful insight into the meaning of common law as it appears.
The Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth does codify some common law rights. Possibly we will have to watch the diet as to not over indulge on those spoonfuls of common law liberties. lol
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:07 am
Richard Colum
Thanks for this information it really is good to understand what law is what. To then see it in a actual true story it then helps you to understand what it means.
Richard Colum´s last blog ..Australian Real Estate Rules for Foreign Investors
June 3rd, 2010 at 4:29 am
Wal Heinrich
This raises a whole lot of questions for me, Jill. Such as, what are the penalties for breaking common law? If common people enforce common law but in doing so break some un-common law, what happens then? Common law in some other countries is opposite to common law here, what happens if migrants practice such common law here?
Wal Heinrich´s last blog ..The Secret Of Healing The Shadow Self And Tapping Into The Riches Of The Dark Side
June 17th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Jill Brown
Hi Wal, Whatever penalties the community has agreed upon. You can not hurt another person, murder or steal from someone. The community has agreed that this is not accepted and there are laws in place. Besides that common law is a good law that everyone wants to follow and an individual will be disadvantaged if they break a rule of common law. Example: You have a common law right to breathe. If you stopped breathing you would be hurting yourself.