Alright, I have puzzled long enough about the Jack Kevorkian trials based
on a nonstatutory crime of assisted suicide.
 
Thankfully the juries have had the wisdom to not convict Kevorkian, but
what if they had? Can anyone explain to me how such a conviction would
withstand a 14th Amendment due process challenge. I have always believed
that due process, requiring fair notice that what we may be doing is
criminal conduct, required criminal law to be statutory and not judge-made.
I cannot imagine such a case law crime not being "void for vagueness."
Apparently, the Michigan Supreme Court held that the assisted suicide crime
existed at common law under a long line of precedent going back to England.
 
 
My question is whether crimes recognized at common law survive under our
constitutional system if they have not been "ratified" by legislative
enactment. Can anyone enlighten me?
 
Prof. Keith A. Maxwell                |  Voice:    206 756 3703
Legal and Ethical Studies in Business |  Fax:      206 756 3500
1500 N. Warner                        |  Internet: [log in to unmask]
University of Puget Sound             |---------------------------------------
Tacoma, WA 98416                      |  "Brevity is the soul of wit."
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