The Third Amendment

“No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.”
The third Amendment prohibits, in peacetime, the quartering of soldiers in private homes without the owner's consent. It makes quartering legally permissible in wartime only, and then only according to law. 


The Third Amendment: Forgotten but Not Gone
Tom W. Bell 1993
“…The threat of quartering that seemed so immediate to the Founders seems remote to us now. But one should not therefore dismiss the Third Amendment as a charming relic from more dangerous times. It can speak volumes--if one takes the time to listen. Tracing [p. 149/p. 150] the Third Amendment's deep roots in English law reveals the origins of our legal heritage. Its bloodline winds through early American history, outlining the causes of the Revolution and culminating in the struggle to determine the final content of the Constitution's Bill of Rights. Although the Third Amendment has seldom been litigated, it still raises interesting theoretical questions about states' powers under federalism, rights to property and privacy, and the interplay of overlapping constitutional protections.
Fortunately, the Third Amendment is not yet gone. Now perhaps it will not remain forgotten. If the Third Amendment is forgotten, one can only hope that we will never again need its protection. [[TWB, ed.: print version reads, "one can only hope will ever again need its protection."]] In that case, complacency would merely demonstrate that the Third Amendment works exactly as planned. But if memory fails and history repeats, one can only hope that the troops will not stay long."
Maybe if Thanh didn’t forget about his third amendment right, he would have known that in that time of peace, he was constitutionally protected to reject the quartering of ‘Soulja Boy’.
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http://www.tomwbell.com/writings/3rd.html

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