Yes I misspoke, as fourdc already pointed out and I conceded.
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Yes I misspoke, as fourdc already pointed out and I conceded.
Getting back to the original topic this is how it works in the UK:
http://direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentci...es/DG_10026937
Basically gays cannot get married but can form a "civil partnership", which from a legal viewpoint is pretty similar. Things like tax, inheritance, intestacy etc.
Straights can marry in a religious ceremony or a civil one as they wish. In both cases the event has to be recorded by the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. That bit is the state's involvement and makes the event legally recognised.
People who just cohabit have very few rights.
The issue of state and church is irrelevant, other than that gays are not permitted (by law) to have a religious ceremony.
This year is the 160th. anniversary of repealing the death penalty for homosexuals. :)
I hate to send this off on a tangent again, but I believe thisQuote:
As an aside, just understand that the Declaration of Independence is not a "Legal Document" in the sense of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, or any other laws. It was a letter sent to King George telling him what "we" believed in 1776 as cause for secession from England.
view is erroneous. The Declaration of Independence is the basis
of the existence of the USA, and the first, fundamental part
of the Constitution. Even if the Constitution is a separate
document, the two cannot be set against each other.
The Declaration is the law of the land.
Errrmmmm......................yes?............. but were it not for the Spanish, British and French, there wouldn't even be a "basis"?Quote:
The Declaration of Independence is the basis
of the existence of the USA
Doh! got that about as wrong as you can?Quote:
and the first, fundamental part
of the Constitution. Even if the Constitution is a separate
document, the two cannot be set against each other.
The Declaration is the law of the land.
Sure, you need a "Declaration of Independence" to begin thinking about a constitution, but that is as far as it goes........... it is a declaration of intent, rather than the final thing?
What I understand is that the DOI was the right to produce a constitution, rather than anything to do with internal laws itself. It was colonists against England was it not?
Yep, that's what I meant. You can't write up a constitution definingQuote:
Sure, you need a "Declaration of Independence" to begin thinking about a constitution
the government, its function and powers, until you have first established
that you have authority to do so. The declaration was the statement
of intent and the treaty at the end of the war was the establishment
of independence. You have to have a foundation to build upon.
Makes about as much sense to me as marriage ceremonies and licenses to people who are sexually aroused by animals or dead bodies.
The Constitution is the law of the land, the declaration was a statement for the rest of the world, no UN then.
The Declaration is not a legal document in a US Court of Law. The Declaration sites "God given rights" that are unalienable. Those rights may be then reaffirmed by the Constitution, but there is no right guaranteed by the Declaration.