COMMON LAW ACADEMY PRESENTS
THE RULE OF LAW: POWER , AUTHORITY , and ACCOUNTABILITY SERIES
Join us for an engaging and interactive journey into the fundamental principles of the Common Law. This ‘Fundamental Principles of Law’ series is dedicated to teaching the core concepts of real law in a simple manner.
Meetn® is the Faster, Easier, and More Customizable Alternative to Zoom®
Module 1: Law Before Government - What Law Is, Where It Comes From, and Why It Binds Power
Module 1 establishes the foundational principle upon which the entire course rests: law exists before government and binds it. Students are introduced to law as a rule of right, not a command, policy, or statute, and learn why law exists solely to secure pre-existing rights to life, liberty, and property. Through clear examples, classical thinkers such as Bastiat and Paine, and the immutable rules of delegation, this module distinguishes authority from power, delegated trust from assumed usurpation, and explains why acts taken outside lawful authority are void from the beginning. By the end of the module, students gain the conceptual clarity needed to recognize the difference between law and force, and to understand why accountability is impossible unless law stands above government.
Module 2: Rights Are Not Granted- The Structure of Rights and the Theft Line
Students learn to apply the “Five Bricks” test to verify any claim: a legitimate right must be absolute, negative, cost-free to others, non-delegated, and self-executing. Through this lens, the course dismantles the “Will Lie”, the modern assumption that a majority vote can transform an injury into a right, and adopts Frédéric Bastiat’s clarity on “legal plunder.”
By the end of the module, students will possess an objective filter to distinguish natural rights from state-issued privileges and permissions. They will understand that a “right” that requires someone else’s labor or property to fulfill is not a right at all, but an organized injury that destroys the very foundation of law.
Module 3: The Sole End of Government - Authority, Delegation, and the Cage
Module 3 shifts the focus from the nature of individual rights to the structural origin and limitations of the state: government is subject to the law because the law makes the government. This module establishes that government possesses no original authority; rather, it is a “creature” of the People, who act as the “creator” by delegating a portion of their pre-existing right to lawful self-defense. By tracing the Hierarchy of Authority, students see that power flows upward from God and the Individual to the State, never downward by grant.
The course introduces the “Constitutional Cage,” a mechanical framework where the Constitution does not empower the government to roam free, but rather restrains and fixes the orbit within which it must move. Drawing on the Alabamian Constitution and the writings of Frédéric Bastiat, the module asserts that the sole legitimate end of government is the protection of life, liberty, and property; any function beyond this is defined strictly as usurpation and oppression. Students explore the Oath of Office not as a ceremony, but as a binding condition of authority that remains in effect regardless of whether a violation occurs through act, policy, or silence.
By the end of the module, students will be able to apply an Integrated Checklist to determine if a government act is truly “law” by verifying it stays within the cage and avoids crossing the “theft line”. They will recognize that because the collective force can do nothing an individual cannot do lawfully, a government cannot be expected to hold itself accountable once it leaves its cage.
Module 4: The Constitutions as Trust Instruments - Delegation, Fiduciary Duty, and Strict Construction
Module 4 moves from the purpose of the “cage” to its rigorous mechanical operation, shifting the perspective from political theory to Trust Law. This module establishes that the Constitution is not a manifesto of hope, but a binding Trust Instrument that governs the relationship between the Settlor (the People) and the Trustee (the Government). By treating the Constitution as a legal contract, students learn that government is merely “hired help” with a strict Fiduciary Duty to follow the written instructions to the letter.
The course explores the “Physics of Force,” asserting that power naturally expands and must be bound by iron, not rubber. Students will examine the Five Immutable Rules of Delegation, including the maxim Potestas delegata non potest delegari—the principle that delegated power cannot be further subcontracted to unelected agencies. Through the lens of the “Rich Kid” Model, the module illustrates how government expansion into areas like healthcare, education, or local agriculture is not “evolution,” but a blatant breach of trust and the embezzlement of the People’s sovereign assets.
By the end of the module, students will be able to perform a Mechanical Audit of Article I, Section 8, identifying the specific “shopping list” of powers. Using the landmark case of Wickard v. Filburn, they will dissect the “mental gymnastics” used to break the cage and evaporate the 10th Amendment. Students will emerge with the clarity to distinguish between a legitimate act of stewardship and a Usurpation, recognizing that because the parchment has no hands, the duty of Fiduciary Enforcement—slapping the hand of the creature—rests solely with the Settlor.
Module 5: The Hierachy of Law, Due Process and the Law of the Land
This module examines the “Structural Physics of Government,” exploring the foundational principles that support and restrain state power. Using the analogy of a “cage” (the Constitution) and the “creature” (government power), the lesson establishes that the Constitution is not a provider of rights but a container designed to restrain authority. For this container to function, it must rest upon a foundation of “granite”, pre-constitutional law, often referred to as the Law of Nature or the rule of right. Without this prior, immutable foundation, the Constitution becomes elastic and incapable of providing genuine restraint against the intrinsic voracity of power.
The lesson further delineates the hierarchy of law, tracing authority from the Law of Nature down through fundamental maxims, the Constitution, and finally to specific enactments and judicial applications. By distinguishing between “enforcement” (lawful force aligned with delegation and reason) and “violence” (force lacking structural authority), the module provides a framework for testing the legitimacy of any governmental act. Key historical figures like Sir Edward Coke and William Blackstone are referenced to illustrate that law precedes rulers and that any act contradicting the fundamental rule of right is structurally void from its inception (void ab initio).
Module 6: The Judiciary - Jurisdiction, Judgement and Nullity
This module examines the internal machinery of the American judiciary, shifting the focus from courtroom drama and legal outcomes to the underlying structural design established by the Constitution. It posits that the judiciary possesses “neither force nor will, but merely judgment,” acting as a surveyor rather than an architect. In this capacity, the court does not create law or social policy but measures the acts of the legislature against the “deed” of the Constitution, which represents the sovereign will of the people. By adhering to this hierarchy of law, the judiciary serves as a critical checkpoint, ensuring that government agents do not exceed the strictly delegated authority granted to them.
The module further explores the essential prerequisites for lawful judicial action, specifically the doctrine of jurisdiction and the requirements of due process. Jurisdiction, comprising subject-matter, personal, and a lawful cause of action, is presented as the non-negotiable anchor of judicial power that cannot be created by consent or silence. When a court acts without this foundational authority, its actions are governed by the doctrine of nullity and are considered void ab initio, or void from the beginning. Furthermore, the module emphasizes that due process is a “condition precedent” to the exercise of force, requiring a specific sequence of injury, accusation, hearing, evidence, and judgment to occur before the state may lawfully deprive an individual of life, liberty, or property.
Module 7: The Grand Jury - The People's Grand Bulwark of Liberty
This lesson examines the legal architecture of the grand jury, positioning it not as a tool of the modern state, but as a pre-political institution rooted in early English common law. The central premise is that the grand jury exists outside the delegated authority of the three branches of government, serving as a direct expression of the people’s power. By tracing the hierarchy of authority, from Natural Law and Natural Rights to the Constitution and finally to the government, the lesson establishes that the state cannot lawfully regulate or abolish an institution that originates above it in the structural chain.
Historically, the grand jury emerged from local “hundreds” where ordinary citizens, bound by oath, conducted inquiries into community wrongdoing. This structure evolved into a dual-purpose mechanism: the Shield, which protects citizens from unfounded state accusations, and the Sword, or the power of Presentment, which allows the jury to initiate its own investigations without a prosecutor’s permission. The lesson highlights a critical modern “structural inversion” where the grand jury has been absorbed into the prosecutorial process, functioning more as a “conduit” for state power than the independent “barrier” intended by the Founders and preserved in the Fifth Amendment and state constitutions.
Module 8: The Petit Jury - The Very Palladium of Free Government
This module explores the petit jury not as a mere procedural formality, but as a critical structural “gate” within the law. While the grand jury serves as the first gate, determining if the government may bring an accusation, the petit jury serves as the second gate, determining whether the government may move from accusation to punishment. Historically and structurally, the jury is a condition the government must satisfy before it can lawfully impose its command upon a citizen. It represents the point where government power stops and the authority of the people begins.
The lesson examines the tension between the “machine” of modern procedure and the foundational protections of the “law of the land.” It analyzes how the jury acts as an external check on a system that cannot be expected to restrain itself. By exploring concepts such as jury nullification, the general verdict, and the “trial penalty,” the module reveals how the original design of twelve unanimous citizens standing between the citizen and the state has been influenced and, in many cases, bypassed by modern legal practices.
Module 9: Executive Power and Enforcement - The Law of Force and the Limits of the Arm of the Creature
Module 9 examines the structural nature of executive power, metaphorically described as “the arm of the creature.” While the legislative branch acts as the mind and the jury acts as the conscience of the government, the executive is the only branch possessing the authority to use physical force against a citizen’s body or property. This power is inherently dangerous, requiring strict containment within the “walls” of the Constitution and the separation of powers. The module emphasizes that in a free society, the executive possesses ministerial rather than discretionary power; it is authorized to move only after a lawful judgment has been rendered through the proper chain of due process.
The module further explores the historical and legal requirements for the restraint of liberty, specifically focusing on the necessity of warrants and the narrow common-law exceptions for felonies and breaches of the peace. It contrasts “lawful authority,” which is traceable back to the people and the law, with “color of authority,” which relies on the mere appearance of power through titles and uniforms.
Ultimately, the document asserts that due process is a condition precedent to any government action, and the preservation of liberty depends on citizens who understand the structure and are willing to stand at the “gates” of the grand and petit juries to prevent the exercise of arbitrary power.
The Double-Minded Legislature: The Battle of Wills; Constitutional Authority vs Legislative Will
This module explores the fundamental structure of legislative power within a constitutional republic, contrasting the exercise of lawful authority with the exercise of arbitrary will. It establishes the legislature not as a sovereign master, but as a delegated trustee bound by a fixed instruction set, the Constitution, which represents the permanent will of the people. By examining the distinction between a mere enactment and a true “rule of right,” the lesson clarifies that legislative actions are only legitimate when they align with the authority, form, and purpose for which government was originally instituted: the protection of individual rights.
The module further analyzes the condition of “double-mindedness,” where a legislature attempts to serve both the fixed requirements of fundamental law and the shifting pressures of current opinion or private interest. It details the specific tests of a true law, authority, form, reason, and right, and explains the structural safeguards designed to prevent usurpation, including enumerated powers and the formal amendment process. Ultimately, the lesson posits that when a legislature consistently breaches the trust placed in it by the people, it ceases to be a representative body and loses its claim to legitimate authority.
Upcoming Lessons
Module 11: Immunity, Accountability, and Lawful Response; What happens when officials violate the law
WEDNESDAY, April 15th, 2026
meetn.com/cla
7:00 PM EST
To join the meeting click this url
https://meetn.com/cla
Or, dial this number From the U.S
+1-859-710-9286 PIN:27892
p.s. International dial-in numbers are available at https://meetn.com/Numbers