Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: steve-b
Or are you using a definition of "agreement" that does not require all parties to actually agree?

Let's go back to my example. A local community outlaws prostitution. A prostitute buys a house that happens to be the twin of your house and opens up for 'business.' She does not "agree" with the local ordinance outlawing her trade.

Are you saying that the town should have no legal remedy in this case and that any attempt to stop her from operating her 'business' out of her house would violate her civil rights as a private property owner?

Would you be happy to live next-door to her, recognizing her "right" to do whatever she pleases on her private property?

Pie-in-the-sky liberal-tarianism sounds wonderful until it's tested against real-world examples, at which point, its absurdity becomes obvious.
183 posted on 06/14/2006 8:48:57 AM PDT by Antoninus (I don't vote for liberals -- regardless of party.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 181 | View Replies ]


To: Antoninus
Are you saying that the town should have no legal remedy in this case and that any attempt to stop her from operating her 'business' out of her house would violate her civil rights as a private property owner?

I would say that if she conducts her business in such a way as to cause annoyance to her neighbors, then her neighbors should have a right to complain. If she conducts her business in such a way that the only way anyone would ever know about it would be via covert surveillance, then the neighbors do not have a right to complain.

More generally, I think that a search warrant should require one of two things:

  1. Enough evidence to establish a prima facie case that a specifically-identifiable criminal act has been committed, and probable cause to believe that the search will yield evidence of said crime.

  2. Enough evidence to establish a prima facie case that a search will yield evidence of a crime.
Specifically-identifiable criminal acts would be things like the theft of a particular piece of property from a particular victim, a bodily injury which was committed at a particular time against an unknown victim, etc. Something more specific than "There was almost certainly an illegal purchase of some sort of drugs somewhere yesterday."

I know that requirement goes beyond the Constitutional minimum, but I don't think the Founders had even considered the notion of having so many complainant-less crimes.

187 posted on 06/14/2006 8:49:17 PM PDT by supercat (Sony delenda est.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 183 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson