Last modified on January 16, 2021, at 11:56

Law of the land

Law of the land is a phrase used in the Magna Carta to refer to the law of the kingdom:[1]

No freeman is to be taken or imprisoned or disseised of his free tenement or of his liberties or free customs, or outlawed or exiled or in any way ruined, nor will we go against such a man or send against him save by lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land. To no-one will we sell or deny of delay right or justice.

Today the phrase is properly used to refer to the U.S. Constitution itself.

However, this phrase is misused today by judicial supremacists, such as senator Lindsey Graham and former governor George Pataki, and U.S. Supreme Court judge Neil Gorsuch, to refer to opinions by just one branch of government, the U.S. Supreme Court, as though it may somehow properly create a new "law of the land." The judiciary does not properly create law.

References

  1. http://www.libertylawsite.org/2014/02/18/the-law-of-the-land-clause-of-magna-carta-the-supremacy-clause-and-judicial-review/