| The 10 foundational principles of the Law as it relates to Freedom and the Family founded on Marriage - an analysis by the Family Rights and Responsibilities Institute of Ireland PREAMBLE Freedom in any society or institution is ironically not measured by the propensity of rights that each individual has but by the understanding that freedom for others - including oneself - flows from the degree to which each member of that society or institution is themself prepared to do their duty to properly self-regulate their own actions for the Common Good of the institution or society as a whole. A "right" only exists where a citizen commits themself to a duty for others to the extent that they can be held legally liable for their failure. In these circumstances a person must necessarily be afforded the right to properly carry out that duty unhindered by any third party. A "right" which does not exist to empower a person to carry out a duty is in fact a "privilege" and a strong case can then be made that those not "in receipt" of this "invented right" are being unjustly discriminated against. Moreover these duties and the rights that flow from them are God-given and we call them "Natural" rights. Christian teaching shows us that authentic Christian love requires us to commit to the duty of service and sacrifice for others. Institutions and societies based on Christian principles, where the faithful are called to love their neighbour - even their enemy - as themselves, provide by this definition, the greatest potential for liberty. Freedom is most likely therefore to be found in societies where Judeo-Christian principles of "self-regulation and service" dominate the Law and public policy decisions. Individual-rights-based ideologies, where selfish interests are promoted rather than love - defined as service and sacrifice of self for others - can never provide real freedom - only totalitarianism. This is because, concomitant to the "individual/human rights" approach, instead of self-control, regulation must inevitably be imposed by the force of the State which has assumed the power to control and distribute such so-called rights/privileges. The most onerous duty that a citizen can undertake - because it is the most regulated and self-regulated social activity - is in the formation and maintenance of the Family founded on Marriage. Spouses who have committed themselves to the self-regulation and public regulation by Marriage are held, additionally to all the other duties of every other citizen, to a raft of duties which they are required to perform for the benefit of the Family as a whole and which operate to provide the necessary stability to society. So whereas, as it says in Article 40.1 "All citizens shall, as human persons, be held equal before the law", spouses are actually held to a higher level of accountability, It is for this reason that it says in Article 41.2 "The State, therefore, guarantees to protect the Family in its constitution and authority, as the necessary basis of social order and as indispensable to the welfare of the Nation and the State"; and in Article 41.3. 1 "The State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded, and to protect it against attack." The Supreme Court has confirmed on numerous occasions that it is only the Family founded on Marriage that is recognised in the Constitution. No other form of blood or social relationship carries anything like the same level of duty and commitment as spouses are held to. To provide such other relationships with similar "rights" without the concomitant duties would be to "privilege" them above spouses and other citizens and this is clearly unconstitutional. The following 10 points sum up the position of the Family founded on Marriage within society and the rules that govern its relationship with the State and other third parties. The applicable Law and a Booklet of Authorities providing the citations which support these principles forms part of the Report, "Parental Rights and the Law in the matter of Schooling", and can be downloaded from the Reference Library section at www.family-men.com/reference.htm 1. The Family founded on Marriage is antecedent to the State. It is a private institution and so has its own constitution and authority. This acknowledges that the heads of that Family - the Husband and Wife - are the only ones who have authority to manage the Family's internal affairs and therefore must be free to do so without fear of interference by the State - who in Law has no interest in the Family's private affairs. 2. Both in religious ceremonies and recognised by the Law, in Marriage spouses become wedded together to form one flesh and make a promise to remain faithful to the Family Unit so formed for as long as they live. They promise to love their children unconditionally. Each spouse vows to sacrifice their own welfare and selfish interests for the benefit of the other spouse and for the Family as a whole. They submit themselves to the rules of exogamy (the 29 degrees of prohibition) which deny them the possibility of incestuous breeding by barring them from marrying and procreating with a close relative. The spouses comply with the regulations that they give a minimum of three months notice thus ensuring that the Marriage is planned and considered and additionally, as the ceremony takes place in public, opens the spouses to public scrutiny and being challenged by any other person as to why the Marriage should not take place. As well as risking losing authority over the Family assets that they have helped to create, a spouse also risks dishonouring the covenant they made with God and their spouse by their misconduct. This responsibility for spouses to behave and sacrifice their own personal welfare for the benefit of the Family as a Unit renders the Family founded on Marriage a moral institution and consequently the optimum place for procreation and socialisation of the next generation. This is recognised in Article 41.1 where it says, "The State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law." 3. Cardinal Brady summed up in his address to the Ceifin Conference "My key message today is thus: The priority of the family over society and over the State has to be reaffirmed. The family does not exist for society or the State, but society and the State exist for the family." (Read his important address in at www.family-men.com/Family%20as%20Foundation.html) Taken with points 1 and 2 this means the State can not lawfully interfere with the Family founded on Marriage. The exception of course is where the public law is violated and there is a finding that a crime has been or is being committed. 4. The Family founded on Marriage is a Unit and must be treated at all times as one by all third parties, especially the State in its social policy, its legislation and through its courts. Like all institutions the Family founded on Marriage has its own Constitution and authority which must be respected by all third parties. Nominally the Husband is head of the Family and is required to act as the Chairman of the committee of both spouses. We say he has the right of Custody over the children and therefore is particularly liable for their maintenance and protection. This role of Custodian can be transferred privately between the spouses, using the courts for voluntary arbitration if required,. This transfer of the duty of Custody between the spouses can not be ordered by the State through the courts and this can only be accomplished legally where both spouses have given their informed consent, voluntarily by their "appearance" at such a specific arbitration process. 5. The actual legitimate duty of the State - where there is no criminal finding - is to facilitate the better functioning and continuance of the Family Unit founded on Marriage. 6. All decisions, especially those that affect the children and which involve third parties - including organs of the State - can only be implemented by the spouses acting jointly. Either spouse can not unilaterally involve a third party BUT necessarily retains the right to veto any involvement at any time of a third party if they believe the child's welfare is no longer benefiting. 7. The heads of the Family founded on Marriage, the Husband and Wife, jointly and exclusively control the welfare and education of their children. State interference or assistance is unlawful unless specifically requested by the joint power and authority of the spouses. Neither spouse is entitled to deny the child's right to unfettered access to both parents. 8. The heads of the Family founded on Marriage, the Husband and Wife exclusively control the assets that have accrued during the lifetime of the Marriage. These include the Family Home, the children, any land or property and savings etc. Assets owned by the spouses prior to the Marriage and assets inherited by individual spouses from their own Family during the Marriage are not part of the matrimonial assets and belong to the individual spouse to use as they see fit. 9. Spouses must at all times be open to reconciliation if any difference of opinion or conflict threatens the integrity of the Family Unit. 10. If a spouse wilfully acts unilaterally with third parties without the consent of the other spouse and refuses to reconcile they have, morally and in law, abandoned their position in the Family and thereby forfeit further authority over the family's assets to the exclusive control of the faithful spouse, This includes the day to day care and control of the children, . Note: In genuine cases of abandonment, in order to establish the new Family authority, the State has "ambushed" spouses into having to dishonour the Marriage vows they made. By abolishing, in 1989, the remedy of the Restitution of Conjugal Rights, the effect of which was to order the errant spouse to reconcile and take up their Family duty of acting jointly with the other spouse for the benefit of the Family Units - spouses are unjustly confined to the option of seeking either a decree of separation or divorce to settle their affairs. This requires the innocent spouse to break the promise of Marriage they made. This is unacceptable and avoidable by the simple remedy that we propose - through which the innocent spouse is permitted to maintain the promises of Marriage they made - whereby an application is made for a Court to issue to the remaining Family a Declaration of Desertion by the errant spouse. This order could then be used to exclude the deserter from future control of the Family assets including the children. To be compatible with these principles this declaration must be rescindable where the errant spouse repents and seeks reconciliation of the Marriage. The Judicial Separation Act and the Divorce Act, being shown to be unjust and unconstitutional must be repealed. God bless, Roger Eldridge Executive Director, Family Rights and Responsibilities Institute of Ireland, Knockvicar, Boyle, Co. Roscommon familyrightsinstitute@eircom.net 07196-67138 086-8180146 *** "Everything that serves to weaken the Family based on the marriage of a man and a woman, everything that directly or indirectly stands in the way of its openness to the responsible acceptance of a new life, everything that obstructs its right to be primarily responsible for the education of its children, constitutes an objective obstacle on the road to peace." |