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Lahmann v. Grand Aerie of Fraternal Order of Eagles10/12/2005
ives," and "applying to the Legislature for redress of greviances ." The uncomplicated structure of the section suggests that the three protected activities are substantively related; no original section of Article I serializes a list of unrelated rights. The last two rights, instruction of representatives and applying to the legislature for redress of grievances, are unequivocally political. Thus, the section's wording suggests that "assembling together" refers to assembly for deliberation about issues affecting the welfare of the public (the "common good" of "the inhabitants"), and the balance of the section protects the ability of "the inhabitants" to give practical effect to their deliberations by ensuring that they may voice their determinations to others who might respond politically.
The operative terms of the section, as they were defined in Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) (photo reprint 1970), support that interpretation.The phrase "to assemble," when used intransitively, meant, " o meet or come together; to convene, as a number of individuals." Webster, An American Dictionary at 14. Thus, "assembling together" is easily understood as convening in a single body, or "assembly." Moreover, as we explain below, meeting together to confer about issues affecting society was precisely the province of the "assembly," a town-based, political body that deliberated over "instructions" to representatives in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America.
The term "consult," when used as an intransitive verb, indicated deliberation by a collective body to develop a position:
"1. To seek the opinion of another by, a statement of facts, and suitable inquiries, for the purpose of directing one's own judgment; followed by with.
"Rehoboam consulted with the old men. 1 Kings 12. David consulted with the captains of thousands. 1 Chronicles xiii.
"2. To take counsel together; to seek opinions and advice by mutual statements, enquiries and reasonings; to deliberate in common.
"The chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death. John xii.
"3. To consider with deliberation. Luke xiv."
Id. at 47 (emphasis in original). Thus, "assembling together to consult" meant to gather and deliberate in order to formulate a judgment or policy. The purpose of the group deliberation, determining and promoting "the common good" of "the inhabitants," also indicates political objectives. Thus, when section 26 was drafted, as now, protecting the right of the inhabitants of the state to assemble together to consult for their common good cannot plausibly be construed to mean protecting the right of a self-selected group to share drinks, food, and fellowship--the "amusements" or "civic and social benefits" that the trial court found to be the primary service provided by the Eagles.
An examination of the h
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