Third in a series.
Re: “Torah’s Vast Influence on Our Constitution”
Dateline Jerusalem – In this final chapter of the Torah’s influence on the 18th century formation of the American government, we begin with the Supreme Court, the final interpreter of the Constitution. It was formulated from the concept that the Great Sanhedrin was the final arbiter of the Torah. Rule of law rather than authority of man in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution come from Exodus, Deuteronomy and Isaiah.
The concept of a fair trial with witnesses in the 6th Amendment to the Constitution derives from Exodus, Deuteronomy and Proverbs. Many parts of Torah and Talmud describing due process procedures to ensure fair trials were adopted into the Constitution, federal and state laws. For example, anyone accused of a crime had the right to bail except in death penalty cases. Evidence could include documents as well as testimony of witnesses. Witnesses were cross-examined in the presence of the accused. Circumstantial evidence alone never was enough to find someone guilty. The accused had an absolute right against self-incrimination. Jewish law goes beyond protecting against self-incrimination. A person who confesses to having committed an illegal act is not believed. The Talmudic principle is “a man cannot declare himself wicked.” This was in the Talmud’s Sanhedrin 9b, codified in Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah. Having been a cop and an attorney, I often saw instances where a confession was insufficient to establish guilt by itself. There had to be additional evidence, whether eyewitness testimony or physical evidence to corroborate a confession.
Sovereign authority of God, not sovereignty of the state or man, as found in Exodus, Deuteronomy, Chronicles, Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel and Jonah are found in the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and on U.S. currency. The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of the Plymouth Colony inhabited by Pilgrims fleeing religious persecution by King James of England.
Governing Ties with Judaism
The principles that are the basis for America’s laws derive from various parts of Tanach. Existence of objective moral values, fixed standards, absolute truth or self-evident truths, sanctity of life, and inalienable rights come from Exodus, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah and Jonah. The concept of all men are created equal found in the Declaration of Independence comes from Genesis. The First Amendment to the Constitution’s Establishment Clause forbidding Congress from interfering with a citizen’s freedom of religion, speech, assembly or petition, derives from Deuteronomy, Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Samuel. The establishment of justice in the Declaration of Independence comes from Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Samuel, Kings, and Micah. Private property rights given in the 6th Amendment are from Exodus. Biblical liberty and free enterprise in the Declaration of Independence are from Leviticus and Jonah. Restitution laws are directly from Leviticus and Numbers.
The list is much longer. Biblical laws are the basis of the entire modern day U.S. civil justice system. Laws dealing with negligence, strict liability, compensatory damages and even punitive damages have their roots in Torah. The most obvious correlation between Torah and U.S. laws today is found in the Ten Commandments: the eighth, “thou shalt not steal,” the ninth “thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” found in Exodus.
Even tort law regarding negligent acts or omissions resulting in civil liability is Torah-based. Samples: Digging a pit but failing to cover it or allowing animals to trespass on a neighbor’s property and do harm. They come from Exodus. Even the degrees of negligence involving foreseeability that an act might cause injury resulted in greater liability than an act without foreseeability. These distinctions are from laws pertaining to a goring ox and come from Exodus. The situation illustrated is when an ox gores someone, it is stoned. But the owner is clear of liability unless the ox has been accustomed to goring in the past, the owner was warned to keep it in and he did not. Then the owner of the ox would be liable.
As you can see, Torah and Talmud had a distinct influence on American law and government. Proof of their continuing influence is found in recent court opinions that often recite Jewish law. Since so many concepts of American law are directly derived from Torah and Talmud, American courts and legal scholars have turned to Jewish law for insights into various issues confronting the American legal system as they find them helpful in illuminating complex, controversial and unsettled areas of American law.
L’hitraot. Shachar