Usurpation

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Related to usurpations: Declaration of Independence, evinced

Usurpation

The illegal encroachment or assumption of the use of authority, power, or property properly belonging to another; the interruption or disturbance of an individual in his or her right or possession.

The term usurpation is also used in reference to the unlawful assumption or seizure of sovereign power, in derogation of the constitution and rights of the proper ruler.

USURPATION, torts. The unlawful assumption of the use of property which belongs to another; an interruption or the disturbing a man in his right and possession. Toml. Law Dict. h.t.
2. According to Lord Coke, there are two kinds of usurpation. 1. When a stranger, without right, presents to a church, and his clerk is admitted; and, 2. When a subject uses a franchise of the king without lawful authority. Co. Litt. 277 b.

USURPATION, government. The tyrannical assumption of the government by force contrary to and in violation of the constitution of the country.

A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.

References in periodicals archive ?

Still, the point seems overdrawn: The public has been exceedingly tame in resisting the Court's usurpations on behalf of the powerful few.

A Matter of Interpretation: Federal Courts and the Law

However, what couldn't be obtained in one outright usurpation is being obtained through gradual encroachment.

Real homeland security: accumulation of power at the federal level is actually making America less secure. The answer is to return to a law enforcement structure consistent with our Constitution

"The history of the current president of the United States of America, like many of his predecessors, is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establish-merit of an absolute tyranny over these United States.

It's not just a piece of paper

He called it "a complete usurpation by the president of authority to use the Armed Forces of this country" and insisted that only Congress could send our forces to war.

U.S. defenders or UN enforcers? The U.S. military is currently being used as the enforcement arm of the United Nations. America's Armed Forces must be restored to their only proper role: national defense

Of course, the judicial usurpations have caused instances of public outrage, the most notable arguably being the infamous 1973 Roe v.

Ending judicial activism: past efforts at remedying judicial activism have failed largely because of the difficulty of implementing them, but newly proposed congressional legislation is promoting a workable fix

For decades, however, THE NEW AMERICAN has not only kept this important congressional power in front of our readers, but has repeatedly recommended its use for curbing federal court usurpations on issues ranging from abortion to the Pledge of Allegiance.

Using a "forgotten" power

More substantive, but no less misguided, are various congressional proposals supposedly aimed at remedying judicial usurpations by amending the Constitution.