[Foundation-l] Re-licensing

Mike Godwin mnemonic at gmail.com
Mon Feb 2 20:46:25 UTC 2009


Ray Saintonge writes

>
> > Trying to cite the Declaration of Independence as the basis for your
> > legal defense in a criminal case -- "Hey, I was just exercising my
> > right to resist a bad king!"  -- is a good way to guarantee going to
> > jail.
> >
> >
>
> So much for the right to bear arms!  :-)


Oh, the Second Amendment can be invoked, sometimes even successfully, these
days. But remember that's in the Bill of Rights to the Constitution. Anthony
was citing the Declaration of Independence, incorrectly, as the basis of the
American legal system. Actually, the Constitution is the basis for that.

Incidentally, the Constitution does not guarantee either rights in copyright
generally, or rights of attribution specifically. What it does do
specifically is allow the Congress to *create* such rights -- a notion that
natural-rights copyright theorists can't quite explain.


--Mike


More information about the foundation-l mailing list