James Otis (1725 – 1783)
Lawyer in colonial Massachusetts who was an early advocate of the political views that led to the American Revolution.
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Now one of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one's house. A man's house is his castle!
... [Slave] trade … is the most shocking violation of the law of nature, has a direct tendency to diminish … liberty, and makes every dealer in it a tyrant, from the director of an African company to the petty chapman [peddler]…. It is a clear truth, that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own.
Taxation without representation is tyranny.
What must be the wealth that avarice, aided by power, cannot exhaust!
A man's house is his castle.
An act against the Constitution is void; an act against natural equity is void.
The only principles of public conduct that are worthy of a gentleman or a man are to sacrifice estate, ease, health, and applause, and even life, to the sacred calls of his country.
ALL PRECEDENTS ARE UNDER THE CONTROUL OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THE LAW... No Acts of Parliament can establish such a writ [writ of assistance enabling British search of homes for no reason]: … it would be void, "AN ACT AGAINST THE CONSTITUTION IS VOID." Vid. Viner. But … special writs may be granted on oath and probable suspicion.
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