"...at the Revolution, the sovereignty devolved on the people; and they are truly the sovereigns of the country, but they are sovereigns without subjects...with none to govern but themselves; the citizens of America are equal as fellow citizens, and as joint tenants in the sovereignty." CHISHOLM v. GEORGIA (US) 2 Dall 419, 454, 1 L Ed 440, 455 @DALL 1793 pp471-472
The people of this State, as the successors of its former
sovereign, are entitled to all the rights which formerly belonged
to the King by his prerogative. Through the medium of their
Legislature they may exercise all the powers which previous to
the Revolution could have been exercised either by the King
alone, or by him in conjunction with his Parliament; subject only
to those restrictions which have been imposed by the Constitution
of this State or of the U.S.
Lansing v. Smith, 21 D. 89., 4 Wendel 9 (1829) (New York)
"D." = Decennial Digest
Lansing v. Smith, 4 Wend. 9 (N.Y.) (1829), 21 Am.Dec. 89
10C Const. Law Sec. 298; 18 C Em.Dom. Sec. 3, 228;
37 C Nav.Wat. Sec. 219; Nuls Sec. 1`67; 48 C Wharves Sec. 3, 7.
NOTE: Am.Dec.=American Decision, Wend. = Wendell (N.Y.)
California Government Code Sections 11120 and 54950 contain strong statements about the sovereignty of the people.
11120. It is the public policy of this state that public agencies exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business and the proceedings of public agencies be conducted openly so that the public may remain informed.
In enacting this article the Legislature finds and declares that it is the intent of the law that actions of state agencies be taken openly and that their deliberation be conducted openly.
The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.
This article shall be known and may be cited as the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.
54950.5. This chapter shall be known as the Ralph M. Brown Act.
Sovereignty in government is that public authority which directs or orders what is to be done by each member associated in relation to the end of the association. It is the supreme power by which any citizen is governed and is the person or body of persons in teh state to whom there is politically no superior. The necessary existence of the state and that right and power which necessarily follow is "sovereignty." By "sovereignty in its largest sense is meant supreme, absolute, uncontrollable power, the absolute right to govern. The word which by itself comes nearest to being the definition of "sovereignty" is will or volition as applied to political affairs. City of Bisbee v. Cochise County, 52 Ariz. 1, 78 P.2d 982, 986.
1849 California Constitution: WE the people of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom: in order to secure its blessings, do establish this Constitution--
1879 State of California Constitution: We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure and perpetuate its blessings, do establish this Constitution.
To deprive the People of their sovereignty it is first necessary to get the People to agree to submit to the authority of the entity they have created. That is done by getting them to claim they are citizens of that entity (see Const. for the U.S.A., XIV Amendment, for the definition of a citizen of the United States.)
The particular meaning of the word "citizen" is frequently dependent on the context in which it is found[25], and the word must always be taken in the sense which best harmonizes with the subject matter in which it is used[26].
One may be considered a citizen for some purposes and not a citizen for other purposes, as, for instance, for commercial purposes, and not for political purposes[27]. So, a person may be a citizen in the sense that as such he is entitled to the protection of his life, liberty, and property, even though he is not vested with the suffrage or other political rights[28].
[25] Cal.--Prowd v. Gore, 2 Dist. 207 P. 490. 57 C.A. 458.
[26] Cal.--Prowd v. Gore. 2 Dist. 207 P. 490. 57 C.A. 458.
La.--Lepenser v Griffin, 83 So. 839, 146 La. 584
N.Y.--Union Hotel Co. v. Hersee, 79 N.Y. 454
[27] U.S.--The Friendschaft, N.C., 16 U.S. 14, 3 Wheat. 14, 4 L.Ed. 322
--Murray v. The Charming Betsy, 6 U.S. 64, 2 Cranch 64, 2 L.Ed. 208
Md.--Risewick v. Davis, 19 Md. 82
Mass.--Judd v. Lawrence, 1 Cush 531
R.I.--Greeough v. Tiverton Police Com'rs, 74 A 785, 30 R.I. 212
[28] Mass.--Dillaway v. Burton, 153 N.E. 13, 256 Mass. 568
"The very meaning of 'sovereignty' is that the decree of the sovereign makes law." American Banana Co. v. United Fruit Co., 29 S.Ct. 511, 513, 213 U.S. 347, 53 L.Ed. 826, 19 Ann.Cas. 1047.
"'Sovereignty' means that the decree of sovereign makes law, and foreign courts cannot condemn influences persuading sovereign to make the decree." Moscow Fire Ins. Co. of Moscow, Russia v. Bank of New York & Trust Co., 294 N.Y.S. 648, 662, 161 Misc. 903.
RESERVATION OF SOVEREIGNTY: "[15] (b) Even if the Tribe's power to tax were derived solely from its power to exclude non-Indians from the reservation, the Tribe has the authority to impose the severance tax. Non-Indians who lawfully enter tribal lands remain subject to a tribe's power to exclude them, which power includes the lesser power to tax or place other conditions on the non-Indian's conduct or continued presence on the reservation. The Tribe's role as commercial partner with petitioners should not be confused with its role as sovereign. It is one thing to find that the Tribe has agreed to sell the right to use the land and take valuable minerals from it, and quite another to find that the Tribe has abandoned its sovereign powers simply because it has not expressly reserved them through a contract. To presume that a sovereign forever waives the right to exercise one of its powers unless it expressly reserves the right to exercise that power in a commercial agreement turns the concept of sovereignty on its head. MERRION ET AL., DBA MERRION & BAYLESS, ET AL. v. JICARILLA APACHE TRIBE ET AL. 1982.SCT.394
United States and State of California are two separate
sovereignties, each dominant within its own sphere. Redding v
Los Angeles (1947) 81 CA2d 888, 185 P2d 430, app dismd 334 US
825, 92 L Ed 1754, 68 S Ct 1338
As independent sovereignty, it is State's province and duty to
forbid interference by another state or foreign power with status
of its own citizens. Roberts v Roberts (1947) 81 CA2d 871, 185
P2d 381. Black's Law Dictionary, 4th Ed., p 1300
A county is a person in a legal sense, Lancaster Co. v. Trimble,
34 Neb. 752, 52 N.W. 711; but a sovereign is not; In re Fox, 52
N.Y. 535, 11 Am.Rep. 751; U.S. v. Fox 94 U.S. 315, 24 L.Ed. 192
.... Black's Law Dictionary, 4th Ed., p 1300
A person is such, not because he is human, but because rights and
duties are ascribed to him. The person is the legal subject or
substance of which the rights and duties are attributes. An
individual human being considered as having such attributes is
what lawyers call a "natural person." Pollock, First Book of
Jurispr. 110. Gray, Nature and Sources of Law, ch. II. Black's
Law Dictionary, 4th Edition, p 1300
The terms "citizen" and "citizenship" are distinguishable from
"resident" or "inhabitant." Jeffcott v. Donovan, C.C.A.Ariz.,
135 F.2d 213, 214; and from "domicile," Wheeler v. Burgess, 263
Ky. 693, 93 S.W.2d 351, 354; First Carolinas Joint Stock Land
Bank of Columbia v. New York Title & Mortgage Co., D.C.S.C., 59
F.2d 35j0, 351. The words "citizen" and citizenship," however,
usually include the idea of domicile, Delaware, L.&W.R.Co. v.
Petrowsky, C.C.A.N.Y., 250 F. 554, 557; citizen inhabitant and
resident often synonymous, Jonesboro Trust Co. v. Nutt, 118 Ark.
368, 176 S.W. 322, 324; Edgewater Realty Co. v. Tennessee Coal,
Iron & Railroad Co., D.C.Md., 49 F.Supp. 807, 809; and
citizenship and domicile are often synonymous. Messick v.
Southern Pa. Bus Co., D.C.Pa., 59 F.Supp. 799, 800. Black's Law
Dictionary, 4th Ed., p 310
Domicile and citizen are synonymous in federal courts, Earley v.
Hershey Transit Co., D.C. Pa., 55 F.Supp. 981, 982; inhabitant,
resident and citizen are synonymous, Standard Stoker Co. v.
Lower, D.C.Md., 46 F.2d 678, 683. Black's Law Dictionary, 4th
Ed., p 311
The Constitution emanated from the people and was not the act of
sovereign and independent States.*1 The preamble contemplates
the body of electors composing the states, the terms "people" and
"citizens" being synonymous. Negroes, whether free or slaves,
were not included in the term "people of the United States at
that time.*2
*1 McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheat. 316 [1819]. See also
Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dall. 419, 470 [1793]; Penhallow v. Doane,
3 Dall. 54, 93 [1795]; Martin v. Hunter, 1 Wheat. 304, 324
[1816]; Barron v. Baltimore, 7 Pet. 247 [1833].
*2 Scott v. Sandford, 19 How 393, 404 [1857].
The words "sovereign state" are cabalistic words, not understood
by the disciple of liberty, who has been instructed in our
constitutional schools. It is our appropriate phrase when aplied
to an absolute despotism. The idea of sovereign power in the
government of a republic is incompatible with the existence and
foundation of civil liberty and the rights of property. Gaines
v. Buford, 31 Ky. (1 Dana) 481, 501.
Government: Republican Government. One in which the powers of sovereignty are vested in the people and are exercised by the people, either directly, or through representatives chosen by the people, to whom those powers are specially delegated. In re Duncan, 139 U.S. 449, 11 S.Ct. 573, 35 L.Ed. 219; Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. (21 Wall.) 162, 22 L.Ed. 627. Black's Law Dictionary, Fifth Edition, p. 626
Democracy. That form of government in which the sovereign power resides in and is exercised by the whole body of free citizens directly or indirectly through a system of representation, as distinguished from a monarchy, aristocracy, or oligarchy. Black's Law Dictionary, Fifth Edition, p. 388