Let’s talk about an important piece of legislation coming up in committee this week. It is House Resolution 25, scheduled for a public hearing in Legislative Administration on Wednesday, January 10, at 10 am, in the Legislative Office Building, Room 301-303. Here is a cliff notes version.
The New Hampshire Constitution is a legal contract called a Trust Indenture.
John Locke is one of the founding fathers of law who heavily influenced the framers of our Constitutions. He wrote in “Two Treatise of Government,” Chapter 15 Section 171, “Secondly, political power is that power which every man, having in the state of nature, has given up into the hands of the society, and therein to the governors, whom the society hath set over itself, with this express or tacit trust, that it shall be employed for their good, and the preservation of their property…”
New Hampshire Supreme Court, in the case of Wooster v Plymouth, stated, “The second [part of NH Constitution] is, in general, a grant of powers, made by the people to ‘magistrates and officers of government, who are declared (in Part 1 art. 8) to be the grantors’ agents.”
We want to thank Rep. Nikki McCarter for this Contribution – Please direct yours to Steve@GraniteGrok.com.
You can review our ‘Op-Ed Guidelines‘ on the FAQ Page.
In The New Hampshire Constitution, Article 84 Oath of Office says, “….accepting the trust…” While neighboring Vermont says in their Constitution Article 6, “That all power being originally inherent in and consequently derived from the people, therefore, all officers of government, whether legislative or executive, are their trustees and servants and at all times, in a legal way, accountable to them.”
So, from the above writings, we see the intent of the framers was for the Constitutions to be Trust Instruments. These are contracts consisting of an agreement between parties called Grantors, who are the Beneficiaries, and Grantees, who are the Trustees. They have a fiduciary duty to fulfill contractual obligations that are binding in a legal way, meaning the Grantors/Beneficiaries can prosecute Trustees for Breach of Trust.
Trust Instruments are built on fundamental principles, like this Maxim of Law, which states: That which is granted or reserved in a certain specified form must be taken as it is granted, and will not be permitted to be made the subject of any adjustment or compensation on the part of the grantee.
Ex. parte Miller. 2 Hill (NY) 423; Bacon, Max. 26, reg.4.
The above Maxim reinforces the concept that only what is expressly written is granted authority in Part 2 Form of Government, and what is not expressly written is forbidden by way of omission. For example, let’s say I have a Trust Fund. Then let’s say that I create a Trustee position in that Fund, which comes with a written description of the duties of the position. The written duties are: “Trustee will identify cash flowing multi-family real estate properties, and acquire them with funds from the trust, and in the name of the Trust.”
Let’s say I offer you, the reader, the position as Trustee in my Trust Indenture and offer to compensate you $2000.00 for each multi-family you acquire. You agree to be my Trustee, swear oath, and away we go. A month later, we meet for coffee, and you roll up in a Ferrari. I say, “Wow, sweet ride, where did you get the money for that?” You reply, “I bought it with funds from the trust.” I say, “Ummm, where in the Trust Indenture was it written that you could use funds to purchase a car for yourself?” You reply back to me, “Well, it’s not written that I can’t use funds to buy a car for myself.” I think you can see that buying the Ferrari is a Breach of Trust and that a Court will not be siding with you.
The same is true of our state constitution. The express written terms of NH Constitution Part 2 Article 32, for instance, nowhere contain any written grant to add in voting machines. The addition of machines, by any other method than the method the constitution itself prescribes in Part 2 Article 100, is a Breach of Trust. House Resolution 25, if passed, will return us to the Constitutional Provisions as they were before our elections process was altered by way of Legislative Enactment rather than by way of proposing a Constitutional Amendment to The People, requiring a ⅔ majority at the Biennial Elections to pass.
If you care about your power as one of the people under New Hampshire Constitution Part 1 Articles 8, 32, and 38, about the oath of office that all legislators take, and about how we are your contractually obligated Trustees, your support at this hearing is encouraged.
You can read HR25 here. Click on the Bill Version as Introduced on the left side of your screen.
You can submit online testimony here.
