norml21 - Page 1
Page 1
Previous ,
Next ,
Original Image
Return to Index
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
v° : Crintinal No o B-93-0391
DAVID EDWIN BOEGGEHAN, ET ALo,
MEMORANDUM OF LAW IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANT
WILLIAM JOHN TROY, III MOTION TO DISMISS
INDICTMENT ON THE GROUNDS THAT NINTH AND
TENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES
CONSTITUTION PROHIBIT PUNISHMENT OF CRIMES
WITHOUT VICTIMS AS A VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT
RETAINED BY THE PEOPLE, TO BE FREE FROM
CRIMINAL PROSECUTION FOR POSSESSING A
SUBSTANCE HAVING RELATIVELY HA_LESS EFFECTS
ON THE USER_ OTHER PERSONS OR SOCIETY
Io THE HISTORICAL FOUNDATION OF THE NINTH AND TENTH AMENDMENTS
SUPPORTS THE PROPOSITION THAT THEY WERE INCLUDED IN THE
CONSTITUTION TO AFFORD SUBSTANTIVE PROTECTION FOR
UNENUMERATED RIGHTS WHICH ARE RETAINED BY THE PEOPLE.
Ao Punishment of victimless crimes is a holdover from the
enforcement of religious morality prevalent in the pre-
revolutionary colonial period.
In pre-revolutionary colonial American, religion and
religious moral value were a way of life and all of the colonies'
institutions reflected these religious values. The foundations
for the strict moral standards of the colonists lay in the
Puritan beginnings of New England° "Because Puritanism was a way
of life_ it had social and political implications of great
magnitude. It assumed that its disciples would regulate not only
their own conduct, but that of others, so that the world could be
iili !il
Previous ,
Next ,
Return to Index