Let us dispose of the phrase “victimless crime” in one swoop of etymological research!
First, we must realize that the word “crime” comes from the 13th century French word crimne, which means “sinfulness.” In a theocratic society, one where the law of the land is based on a contract between the inhabitants and God, what constitutes crime is whatever God says is sinful. However, in our modern and secular society, we do not base our law on the supremacy of God, but on the supremacy and genealogy of the Constitution.
Now, according to our Constitution, “enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” This means that while a Missouri citizen does not have the right to declare war (a power exclusively entrusted to Congress), they do have the ability to retain their right to bear arms (in all ages, shapes, and forms).
What, then, does it mean to commit crime in our present age? Sin may still be a factor for those that have committed themselves (or their household) to upholding a contract between themselves and God, but this cannot spill over into the public realm of crime (as the freedom to contract between gods is an exclusive right of each individual). According to Frank Lambert, the framers of our Constitution wanted to throw off the reign of state religion, which had been so much a part of the tyrannical past. “Regarding religion as a natural right that the governed never surrendered to government, they prohibited any interference in citizens' rights to the free exercise of religion.” So, sin cannot be a factor of committing a crime unless in the private lives of an individual’s own contract with God.
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