Brent Allan Winters is the author of Excellence of Common Law—in Light of History, Nature & Scripture His website is www.commonlawyer.com
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Brent: Thanks John this is Brent Allan Winters commonlawyer.com www.commonlawyer.com well lawyers seem to be one of the focuses of discussion here I’m going to read you a section – Section 3.10.2 Title Character of the Common Lawyer (repeats) from the book Excellence of Common Law Comparative law text comparing the law of the land our Common Law with the law of the city also called the civil law Before the 14th Century common lawyers that means lawyers in Common Law countries law of the land countries as opposed to law of the city countries and there was only one Common Law country in the world back in the 14th Century and that was the island of Britain that was it America had not gotten her motor up and running yet to amount to much anything neither had Canada Both Canada and the United States are Common Law countries now and then Australia New Zealand and then England Britain Those five Those 5 major countries are the only Common Law countries in the world There are other smaller places just as important in and of themselves The Bahamas Belize in other words all the former British Colonies Former parts of the British Empire Common Law countries India – India is not a Common Law country but it uses the Common Law quite a bit because that is a Colony of India All of the rest of the world every country is under some form of the law of Babylon the law of the city and most often most of those other countries are under the Code of Justinian the old code of the Roman Empire that was compiled under the auspices and at the behest of the emperor Justinian To sum up there are only two traditions only two traditions of religion law and government in the world the law of the land and the law of the city and then there’s all the variations in between but fundamentally there are only 2 and variations in between on the spectrum Before the 14th Century lawyers in Common Law countries called themselves serventes ad ligum or something like that – That’s Latin for servants at law They called themselves servants at law Lawyers in law of the city countries like France and all the countries of South America all the Communist countries view themselves as servants of the state That’s another way to demonstrate the difference Not that we don’t see eye to eye with these other countries no We’re looking in opposite directions We’re opposites not just a little bit different Opposites at the foundation
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and that spells all the difference about every other characteristic of those two traditions of religion law and government During the 14th Century in England at about the time Common Law courts stopped using the law of French common lawyers begin to call themselves by the English term for feudal sergeantry What’s feudal sergeantry That means feudal servants Feudal servants and they called themselves therefore sergeants at law What’s a sergeant at law or they say sergeant That’s an old word that means servants – Servants at law We have in the Congress Master at Arms In the Naval Service there’s always a man or a group of men called Master at Arms Servants at law A Master at Arms well he’s an enforcer Arms Weapons A sergeant at law is a servant of law at The preposition at denotes where he is what he’s doing for example and this was the use of the preposition at in those phrases we have retained it but not anywhere else A good example I like this example because it’s something that really happened A demonstration of the use of the preposition at in the phrase servant at law Back in the 14th Century a man by the name of John Whycliffe for the first time translated the entire Bible into English He didn’t have access to the manuscripts of the original tongues The Hebrew never make of the older testament and the Greek of the newer testament so he used the Latin translation from about 400 AD that’s all he had so he translated it in English but he translated John 1:1 and 2 like this remember we’re demonstrating the use of the preposition at in old English which we still use today Master at Arms and Servant at law He translates this way In the beginning was ye word and ye word was at God (repeats) and of course when you read on through the second verse he says our modern translation we say In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God He was in the beginning of him well who is he He’s talking about Jesus Christ Jesus Christ In English John Whycliffe translates that the word was Jesus Christ was at God Now the word at in the old English had an idea with it that means with the English translation say the word was with God translated in the Greek preposition so the word at has the idea of at right with if something is at me there are two ways I can think that either it’s coming at me or it’s in my presence it’s right beside me it’s right up close to me at well that’s the way they used the preposition and so these common lawyers called themselves Servants at law in other words they called themselves the right hand man or men of the Common Law doing the Common Law’s bidding Defending the Common Law Enforcing the Common Law and remember the Common Law is not a list of laws
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It is a way of life It is a path you get on It’s due process The course as the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 says The course of the Common Law It’s a way we do things not what we do but how we do it That’s the important point about our Common Law The law of the city doesn’t care how you do it just so you reach the result that the state commands through its legislation but we follow a process well Servants at law The early common lawyer’s old use of the preposition at is scarce nowadays but was customary in the 14th Century Common lawyers intended at to denote that their calling was an immediate peculiar and personal servitude to the Common Law and that means to due process Our Common Law does not include due process Our Common Law how we do things due process The course we follow in doing anything to distinguish from personal servitude to the king Common Law when that phrase was to not be a personal servant to the king or to the in that day to the Pope because the civil law lawyers called the Roman Priests that’s what a Roman Priest is he called himself a servant to the Pope Well if you’re a servant to the Pope or a servant to the dictator or a servant to the governor or a servant to some other person in government well then that person is the law to you now that’s a very dangerous position to take we just had an incident in Michigan Doctors Medical doctors sued the governor of the state of Michigan She claims she’s the governor Who knows who she is it’s all like these are weird creatures doing the things they’re doing I don’t know what they are anyway the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on one count and 4-3 on another that the governor or the person calling herself their governor as a has gone beyond the bounds of the law and they said that what she’s doing is unlawful what was her response her response was oh she said she was terribly disappointed at the Supreme Court ruling but she wasn’t going to follow it She was going to try to persuade she was going to try to persuade the court differently and she was going to keep doing what she was doing that’s the upshot of it well how does she justify that she doesn’t she just says I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing She’s too ignorant I’m convinced just listening to her she doesn’t have a clue what she’s doing she’s just a girl having fun because now she can play governor and she says wow maybe Joe Biden will win the election and he’ll appoint me to one of his big positions and I can have a wonderful career as a politician et cetera apparently somebody has promised her something because she’s acting wacko but can she do what she’s saying she’s going to do well sure as a matter of force who is going to arrest her she will just keep saying Everyone must obey my orders By the way I’ve been to Michigan hundreds of thousands of people if not millions are not obeying her orders I want to drop a footnote People talking about the ins and outs of what’s constitutional and what’s not talking about the ins and outs of what medical and empirical science says about the virus blah blah blah I’m just telling you from my part I don’t give two hoots and a holler what any of them say because I just don’t care I do not care and I refuse to participate in the buffoonery that I’ve seen and I’ve seen for decades I quit participating a long time ago You either go my way or I’ll go by myself I’m done with it I hope you feel the same way You’re not going to persuade people who are not persuadable If God does not open their eyes to the buffoonery of this so-called virus that does not exist well people say it does exist well show me one sliver of evidence that’s trustworthy that says it exists
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Well the government says it exists the health department says it exists well you’re going to say that’s trustworthy the government well the doctors the medical community says it exists you’re going to say that’s trustworthy after what they have tried to pull on you now they want to pump you full of vaccinations the pharmaceutical companies well there are exceptions to all those generalizations but friends neighbors and kin I’m not God I generalize why because that’s the prudent thing for any sensible freeman to do I see the pattern and I go with the pattern and say I’m not going there well there may be like somebody said well (haha) somebody said there’s some good policemen out there well maybe burden is on them to prove it if they’re really good why don’t they get out and quit supporting well there’s some good people wearing masks they just do it for the right reasons well there’s exceptions to every rule and of course the exception to the rule is what establishes the rule but it doesn’t swallow the rule and when I see that people in government Congressmen courts going haywire the burden then is on them to prove that they’re not part of the system and if they refuse to denounce it and get out get away from it and be their own man well I’m not interested in talking to them or paying any attention to anything they say and if you haven’t gotten there you’re not a freeman yet you’ve got to get there and it needs to be said and said over and over again well the early common lawyers’ use of the preposition at is scarce and I’ve read that I guess oh I’ve read that too one’s personal service to the king remember I must say I’m reading from Comparative law text Excellence of Common Law Section 3.10.2 the character of the common lawyer where I try to recount the history of how we got these creatures called lawyers in Common Law countries that are different from the countries of the law of the city One’s personal service to the King was called well they had a fancy Latin name for that too It was honorary such as burying his sword in armor or in battle or as serving as his champion in battle likewise the Sergeant at law’s duty and loyalty was personal and honorary but to the Majesty of the Common Law In addition this is why modern common lawyers us lawyers in Common Law countries refer to litigation in Common Law courts as an action at law – Law being the abbreviated term for Common Law and the prepositional phrase at law meaning in the personal presence of the law’s Majesty just as serventes ad lex meant in the personal service or the personal presence of the king’s majesty moreover by the title sergeant or servant at law common lawyers intended to contrast themselves with the Roman Priests serving as civil law proctors – Proctors Advocates and judges The Roman Priests by their oath has sworn to render their direct loyalty and still do by the way their direct loyalty and service to who The Pope -E -the Pope of Rome whereas the common lawyers’ oath loyalty and service were direct to the Common Law If you don’t see this distinction refuse to acknowledge this distinction you cannot understand what a Common Law country is and why we have Common Law How did it get here It came here because of the adversity between the law of the land and the law of the city the law of city represented primarily by Roman the Roman Priesthood and the law of the land the Canaan law of Rome is the Code of Justinian in its Ecclesiastic form and the law of the land by common lawyers and common lawyers arose to meet the threat of Roman Priests appointed as judges in England and using the Canaan law the Code of Justinian in their decisions They wanted to stop it because they knew if they didn’t stop it somehow their organizing against it that the Common Law would be gone and along with that freedom trial by jury the right to keep and bear arms freedom of speech freedom of religious affection the list separation of powers independence of the judiciary independence of the legislative branch independence of the executive branch and on and on
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Unlike the loyalty of the Roman Priests and the civil servant to government which was to the government of a single will whether Pope Bishop King or any other combination of men a common lawyer’s undivided loyalty was to the principals of the Common Law He was to seek commonness with other men on the objective foundation of law’s truth and never upon the subjective and shifting sands of earthbound rulers You see the contrast Is our loyalty to be to men no no a thousand times no it is to be to the will of the true sovereign and remember the will of the sovereign whoever you take to be your sovereign his will is law well our loyalty is to law The law of the land as our Constitution puts it The common lawyer that’s a lawyer in a Common Law country was to be in constant pursuit of the timeless law’s articulation of truth believing that if he keeps on seeking as said Jesus Christ he will discover discern and refine the law’s fitting application in individual instances Matthew 7:7~8 I’m quoting the Savior He said keep on asking and it shall be given to you Keep on seeking and you shall find it Translations say Ask and it shall be given Keep but that’s not what it means It’s in the present continuous action form of the verb Keep on seeking Keep on asking Do not faint says Paul the Apostle in prayer Keep doing it may feel like your prayers are bouncing off heaven and has turned to brass up there well you still keep doing it that’s your duty well let me see (haha) constant pursuit of the law Only servants at law held the title in old England order of the coif C O I F Sergeants at law were the highest rank of lawyers in Common Law England It’s still true now the term Order of the coif was another term they used for Sergeants at law and now that term in America is just used it’s a fraternity now in law schools and if you make really good grades you can be invited to belong to the Order of the Coif it doesn’t amount to much and I had to add the title Sergeant at law Order of the Coif even esquire none of those titles are hereditary (repeats) They’re like Ecclesiastic titles The title of Bishop is not hereditary of course those fellows weren’t supposed to have children anyway so it doesn’t make any difference of course they usually had dozens of children but they didn’t pass along their Ecclesiastic title Bishop whatever they were they still don’t and the same thing is true of common lawyers They don’t pass along the titles that they have received they’re not hereditary in that sense they’re not titles of nobility A candidate’s entry into the Order required approval of the Chief justice a candidate in England to get into become licensed to have permission to argue for another person before the court that required approval of the Chief justice of the court of common pleas The court of common pleas was the Chief Common Law Court in England The Chief badge of the authority bestowed by the Order of the Coif that’s the Sergeants at law was a tight fitting cap worn on the head a tight fitting cap when you look at old paintings of men from the middle ages they will have these tight fitting caps I was talking a while ago about Priests Didn’t have to worry about their titles passing onto their children because they weren’t supposed to have any and if they did have any they were bastards in other words they were born out of wedlock
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One of the most famous men born out of wedlock a Roman Priest was a fellow by the name of Erasmus Erasmus He was a Dutch Roman Priest and he was incurably Roman He was a Priest loyal to the church but he is the one that started the reformation in Europe He didn’t realize he got to thinking he was smarter than Jerome and he wanted to offer a Latin translation to the Pope that was better than Jerome’s he wanted to prove it he did but to show how good his translation was he put the Latin text on the left page and on the right page every time you turn the page on the right page he would put the text the original text in the original Greek new testament right beside it so you could compare it and see that it was more accurate than Jerome’s translation well by publishing the Greek new testament he didn’t know he was playing with matches and exceedingly dry timber and it caught fire real quick and people were saying well wait a minute this is what the Greek text says but they could look at it and study it see Why is it Jerome translated it this way or why is it so and so Priests saying this when the Greek text says this and that’s what kicked off the Protestant reformation the translations of the Bible into the native tongues of the European people and we’re still in that evolution well that’s a bad word a dangerous word to use evolution and that event is still ongoing The chief badge of authority I talked about the cap the tight fitting cap on the lawyer’s head well of course they have other ways they denote a common lawyer in England they wear those goofy looking white wigs over in England We don’t do that here fortunately and I can’t imagine how hot that would be in a hot courtroom so 80 per cent of the heat in your body you know comes out of the top of your head If you put something on top of it Oh by the way winter’s coming just remember if you get cold put a sock hat on your head that will do more to keep the heat in than about anything else you wear a coat too but if you can’t get one put a sock hat on your head Well English kings allowed members of the Order of the Coif to wear these caps in their presence (repeats) in other words common lawyers to wear these tight fitting skull hats in their presence by the way they were more like a hood they weren’t a skull cap like the Jews wear This thing went clear around your head kind of like something you would wear in the wintertime when you were cold and until the year 1553 as did Roman monks Sergeants at Law rode mules instead of horses I’m going to repeat that of course a lot of people don’t know that monks only rode Roman monks in those days only rode mules so people would know who they are They never rode horses Well these common lawyers that were organizing against them they took up riding mules too and never horses and by their habits customs and lifestyle the early servants at law become a law meant to show themselves that their devotion to the Common Law was as strong if not stronger than the Roman Priests’ loyalty to the Roman Pontiff that was the idea Therefore by their title servant at law which means hand servant to the Common Law and by their oath common lawyers were foremost for the benefit of the people and not the state God has not made people for the benefit Listen to me God has not made you for the benefit of the law but rather God has given the law for the benefit of his people How do I know Because Jesus Christ said exactly that in Mark 2:27 and he used the sabbath principle as the jumping off point when he said Man was not made of the sabbath but the sabbath the law of the sabbath was made for man Well that applies to all True law It’s for our benefit We are not for the law’s benefit however the common lawyers say that they are servants of the law in the sense that they are sworn their loyalty to the law When we take an oath in America to support and defend the Constitution of the United States we are taking an oath to what
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We’re taking an oath to a set of principles written down on paper The way government is to operate The relationships between the states government and the general government in Washington DC and between the three branches of government and the relationship between the government and us It’s a document not about what will happen but about how it’s supposed to happen The course of the Common Law and we take an oath to that When I got overseas when I was a young punk of a kid I found out real quick When we’re around people from other countries that had taken an oath to serve their country French people I remember Australians Brits primarily but the French were a little different People from the Netherlands These other people from these other countries didn’t take an oath to support the set of lawful principles written down on paper or somehow recorded no They took an oath when they joined their military service they took an oath to loyalty to an emperor or empress to a dictator or dictatress or a combination of men together to exert a single will in legislation America is very much different not a little bit We don’t take an oath to the President of the United States We take an oath to support and defend Even the buck Private 17 year old kid and the Seaman Deuce right on up to the General officer and the Admiral take the same oath and they’re responsible to stick to that oath even if it means disobeying the orders of the President of the United States or the General officer or the Admiral That’s our Common Law tradition It’s different than all the rest of the world and if we don’t see the contrast between us and them we will not preserve what we have that is such a blessing to us If you don’t even know there’s a difference If you can’t see it If that’s not what you’re constantly stressing in your mind your thinking and your speech no we’re not like them We are holy other Go to the Bible and you see real quick read through the older testament you can pick up on the idea that everything all the will of God that God gave to his people ISRAEL in all of that he said Be ye set apart for a special purpose That’s what holy means CHODOSH in the Hebrew as I am You are different than all other people and I want you to appear different act different respond different do things different than all these other nations and tongues that live around you because if you don’t you won’t preserve your identity You won’t preserve your law and you won’t preserve your freedom well the same thing is true of us That is a first principle of reality If we don’t follow it and say Hey wait a minute we’re different Our loyalty is to the will of the sovereign What is the will of the sovereign True law How does he express his will The laws of Nature unwritten Lex non scripta In Nature around us In creation Meant to be observed and followed or suffer the consequences and the laws of Nature’s God says our Declaration of ‘76 written lex scripta The Bible says William Blackstone in his Commentaries on the Laws of England our Common Law Well after the year 1600 the only way to gain eligibility for an appointment as judge in England’s courts was to first become a Sergeant at Law which means servant at law well uh oh a servant at law Judges and servants were peers in fellowship That doesn’t mean they’re part of the peerage I’m just making the point
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The word peers by the way Peers is a cognate of our word pairs What does pairs mean Not P E We were cleaning pears today peeling them boiled them down put them in quart jars 45 gallons of picked pears well that’s different than P A I R and can also be expressed as a match M A T C H Two things that match The word peer means those that match you They are your mirror image They look like you They in general they have your same standing your economic condition same culture same tongue you know each other and of course we apply that to the trial by jury Jury of peers but judges and servants at law Both of them were servants at law Here’s another feature of our Common Law tradition that’s different than every other country in the world Our judges appointed to the bench in Common Law countries in most all cases are practicing lawyers Somebody said well that’s the problem well of course it can be a problem but just to make a point that’s different than every other country in the world If you’re going to be a judge in Sweden or Russia or Communist China you don’t study to be a lawyer You don’t study the law no You go to school and learn how to be a judge well what does a judge do A judge in those countries is part of the civil service ranks like in the Federal system GS 10 or 12 that’s what they are They don’t know anything about the law and don’t care to Their job is to enforce the will of the state that’s all it is They’re cogs in the machinery of the government They’re not in fellowship listen to me close They’re not in fellowship with the lawyers that argue for the court They’re not like them They’re not peers with them They’re not the same kind of people not at all Is that bad Oh that’s terrible Freedom won’t last when you do that Why do I say that well when a lawyer goes into court and this is true it’s a matter of reputation When a lawyer goes into court he has something in common with the judge what is it They’re both lawyers and because they’re both lawyers and he has something in common with the judge he also has something in common with his client He’s not a judge His client’s not a judge either The lawyer is a lawyer The judge is a lawyer but the client is not a lawyer so that means that the lawyer arguing on behalf of his client can stand between the judge and his client and identify with both of them to some degree hopefully A judge can get used to a lawyer in a small court and come to trust that lawyer when he tells him this that or the t’other As a matter-of-fact the Ethics Code for lawyers in a Common Law country are different than civil law countries says that the judge must accept as true what a lawyer tells him until proven otherwise Of course that causes problems
Then it’s up to the other lawyer the other litigant to call the lawyer out if he’s a liar Does it happen You bet it happens It happens a lot but I’m trying to make a distinction between the way we do things and the way the rest of the world does things and I find an analogy here also The Bible says there is only one mediator between God and man The Bible says that the mediator is our lawyer who pleads our case well who is it well it’s the man of God’s own choosing Jesus Christ but he is God almighty reduced to the span of a man To flesh so he can identify with the judge who is the Supreme judge of all the world says our Declaration of ‘76
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God the father He’s on the bench Jesus Christ is a member of the God head with him but also Jesus Christ is like us Born of woman Tempted at every point just like us We can identify with him and we’re supposed to and he identifies with us and he can stand in the middle and identify with both parties and make an argument on our behalf and by the way God the father setting on the bench trusts Jesus Christ when he tells him something When Jesus Christ tells the judge his father he believes what he says now if you’ve got that kind of an advocate going for you before the maker of heaven and earth and all that in the midst including you well you’ve got a good lawyer So be encouraged about that and I hope you shout that he is your lawyer because if he is you’ve won your case and he will keep reminding the judge that you’ve won your case In fact he’ll remind the judge that he won it for you (haha) that’s enough to giggle about Let me finish this paragraph I’ve got just a couple to go Well Sergeants at law ranked just below knights but just above a knight’s assistant Listen we’re talking about esquires here The knight’s immediate assistant which was usually a teenage boy an armor bearer was called esquire That wasn’t a title of nobility for him either He couldn’t pass that one along Now knighthood that’s a title of nobility but a lawyer was not in the peerage He didn’t have a title of nobility A Common Law lawyer a common lawyer as they call them in England and Canada yet today That’s what they are here in America but we don’t call them that very often so a knight was part of the peerage Paul McCartney is a knight of the former group the Beatles the queen Lizzie knighted him That means he can pass that on to his children That’s a title of nobility Just below him though was the non peerage and just below him was the Sergeant at law He had rank in England and he was also later on not then so much he was called a Sergeant which means servant at that time but below him was the esquire the boy that carried the armor for the knight who was part of the peerage and could pass his title along well both Sergeants at law servants at law and Sergeants they call them sergeants they were land freeholders of land by military tenure ranked below knights – Knights were part of the peerage but in the United States some append the title esquire after the names of American lawyers as an abbreviated title of courtesy E S Q Esquire The term so used however signifies neither class nor peerage Moreover the Constitution bars both the United States and any of the several states to grant any such title of nobility It’s against the law in America That’s this part of the Constitution of the United States Article 1 Section 9 and Article 1 Section 10 No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them shall without the consent of Congress accept of any present emolument office or title of any kind whatsoever from any king prince or foreign state No state it says shall grant any title of nobility so what our Constitution forbids is any government in our country from granting a title of nobility and from any person in our country from accepting a title of nobility from another country Now we have things like for example Kentucky Colonels Kentucky Colonels are only bestowed I believe by the governor of Kentucky Originally the Kentucky Colonels was a veterans’ organization like the American Legion or the VFW and it was an organization for veterans of our war for separation from Britain
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They were called the Kentucky Colonels but today the governor does bestow that title to people but again it’s not hereditary so it’s not unlawful it’s not a title of nobility In any event the title esquire for a lawyer is a misapplication in light of history Why do I say that Because originally English barristers held the title sergeant which means servant of the law but never did they hold the title in old England of esquire That was the fellow that carried the armor for the man who was knighted In addition to their tight fitting caps to distinguish their position until the year 1694 the servants in law in England wore robes of varying colors but always of the same cut The sergeants robes that’s servants influenced John Jay who was on the first panel of the United States Supreme Court They influenced John Jay to begin the United States Supreme Court justices’ custom of wearing robes Many American State Courts such as those of Kentucky and Missouri resisted judges’ wearing robes until well after the year 1900 In his prologue to Canterbury Tales which was back during the time of John Whycliffe the author of Canterbury Tales Goeffrey Chaucer He was a sergeant at law servant at law he provides a 14th Century description of the sergeant at law’s dress and manners and maybe you read We did when I was in high school we read the Canterbury Tales well I think that’s enough Thank you for your indulgence My comments are my own and they may or may not be the position of the Leadership of National Liberty Alliance but again they may and I appreciate as always NLA allowing me a few minutes to say a few words You can get this book I want to mention OH Join me on Saturdays We’re teaching a due process class Go to commonlawyer.com www.commonlawyer.com and you can click on a link there and participate It will tell you how It’s early in the morning Central time 10 to noon and we are recording and posting them from what I understand on the website Back to you Gerard if I didn’t put you to sleep And then we have silence Maybe just maybe he’ll wake up Gerard’s a working man He’s trying to keep a business up and run a family Children and grandchildren
(Brent concludes)
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