American Independence and English Common Law " 'Government is a conditional compact between king and people. A violation of the covenant by either party discharges the other from its obligation.' 'An Act [of Parliament] against the Constitution is void.' In these thirty words Patrick Henry and James Otis denied the divine origin of the British kingship and the legislative supremacy of the British Parliament, and substituted therefor the Common Law and the eternal rights of man."(Full article...)
