[DoodleDawg]

but we have a Constitution and no mere normal act of the legislature can alter the Constitution to [re]define its terms.

Yet we can trust a British jurist who defined it, as you say, several different ways?

[OneWingedShark]

>> but we have a Constitution and no mere normal act of the legislature can alter the Constitution to [re]define its terms.
>
> Yet we can trust a British jurist who defined it, as you say, several different ways?

I didn’t say that he was the definitive source, but he was honest enough to show the changes explicitly and give some reasonable explanation — I’m not saying that we should accept one of the definitions he presents w/o question, merely that his explanation is a good place to look as he lived from 1723 to 1780 and was well respected ( See the paragraphs immediately preceding the Death section: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blackstone ) even in America (presumably by the founding fathers) because his commentaries on the law sold out so quickly.