Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Rumpole and the "Evolving" Constitution


As a follow up to the post about the "Evolving Constitution" as, in reality, a theory of intelligent design (i.e., the Constitution "evolves" only in the sense that new species of Constitutional rights are actually created by judicial decree--"let there be a right to abortion" sayeth the Court), consider a wonderful passage from John Mortimer's Rumpole of the Bailey. In a short story entitled "Rumpole and the Old, Old Story," notice Rumpole's response when Soapy Sam Ballard, Rumpole's "head of chambers," proposes to ban smoking in chambers. Rumpole, who chain smokes small cigars or cheroots, replies that it is illegal to ban smoking under British constitutional law and Magna Carta. Ballard asks Rumpole: "Could you just remind me which clause in Magna Carta deals with smoking?" To which Rumpole answers: "'No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or destrained on or exiled or denied the comfort of the occasional cheroot...unless by the lawful judgment of his peers.'" John Mortimer, The Second Rumpole Omnibus, at 491. Later on, Rumpole adds that smoking is also protected under the European Convention on Human Rights, and when asked by Ballard for the exact provision, Rumpole replies: "'No citizen shall be persecuted on the grounds of race, creed or colour or because he lights up occasionally." Id. at 510


Query--as you read Supreme Court decisions interpreting the US Constitution, do you get the impression that the Court is acting a little bit like Horace Rumpole?

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