What is Municipal Law?

When you move into a new city it is a good idea to take a peek at the city website for any municipal laws you may be curious about. Often bylaws differ from city to city, and restrictions on things like noise, parking and when you can have a garage sale may come up.

I was surprised to learn that I wasn't allowed to park on my street during certain times of the month. Apparently there is a bylaw in place for street cleaning and you can face hefty fines for blocking the way.

Another thing I noticed is that in my new city, the noise bylaw is in effect much earlier than in my previous city. That puts a bit of a damper on any party plans.

@hamje23 - I think that solely looking to the Constitution for the construction of laws and removing, editing or modifying current ones is a bit of a narrow view that robs our country of the experience of other nations.

I believe that our country exists as part of the international community, and that there are modern events happening that require a broader global perspective. While the Constitution is an excellent framework, looking at the experiences of other countries that have faced the actual events in question can be invaluable.

Furthermore, the founding fathers were highly influenced by France and the Enlightenment when crafting the Constitution. If we want to follow their work we should continue to learn from the mistakes of others rather than make the same ones because we refused to look past our own sources for guidance.

@hamje32 - Also let’s remember that the United States is a member of the United Nations, and had a part to play in crafting these international laws which some people seem so frightened about.

@hamje32 - Let’s not go overboard here. We do need international laws for legitimate purposes. What happens if a criminal escapes from the United States and flees to a European country?

We have extradition treaties with many of these countries, which means that they would have to pursue and send the criminal (or I should say, suspect) back to us for trial.

@NathanG - You raise a good point. That’s why, for my part, I think we should stick to one model-domestic law.

International law and municipal law will not always be compatible. If we are going to be consistent, we should adhere to the Constitution in all of our legislative and judicial practices, and not look to European nations as models to follow, nor interfere in parts of the globe where we don’t have a vital interest.

It’s shocking but not long ago I heard that the Supreme Court looked to the international community as a guide in adjudicating some of our laws here in the United States.

What business do we have looking to other nations for guidance? We already have a Constitution, and that should be our guide.

I think domestic law and international law sometimes come in conflict with each other. One of the most common examples of this involves the interrogation of terrorist detainees.

Some people argue that military tribunals, and the way we interrogate detainees using “enhanced interrogation” techniques as they are euphemistically called, border on torture and therefore violate the Geneva Convention.

Supporters of enhanced interrogation argue otherwise and like to point out that the detainees are enemy combatants and so somehow don’t fall under the Geneva Convention. Obviously, if you live in the United States you expect that general municipal law will trump international law, regardless of your position on these issues.

But that begs the question: what right do we have to interfere with the internal affairs of countries like China, then, under the pretext that their human rights violations violate international law?