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From: guy@rlgvax.UUCP (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Re: Drivers license regulated industry or right?
Message-ID: <1936@rlgvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 19-May-84 15:55:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: rlgvax.1936
Posted: Sat May 19 15:55:53 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 21-May-84 03:15:54 EDT
References: <348@teldata.UUCP>
Organization: CCI Office Systems Group, Reston, VA
Lines: 44

> I noticed that more and more people  are  talking  about  driving  being  a
> privilege  from the state.  I would like to know when it became a privilege
> to move from point to point (don't you have to have papers to  move  around
> in  Poland?)  and who is the master as lined out in the Constitution of the
> United States of America?

It's not a privilege to move from point to point in the US.  I would like
to know when it became a requirement to drive in order to get from point
to point?

The roads are built and maintained by state governments; as such, they can
require licenses to use the facilities they provide.  If the roads were
privately-built and maintained, using those roads still be a privilege
granted by the builders and maintainers.

> Licenses are  for  people  who  are  operating  in  a  regulated  industry.

Huh?  A "license", according to Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, is

	...a permission granted by competent authority to engage
	in a business or occupation or in an activity otherwise
	unlawful...

The first two items (permission granted to engage in a business or occupation)
do indicate a regulated industry, but the third is somewhat of a catch-all.
That's the way I'd use "license" in the sense of "UNIX license" (use of the
UNIX(TM) brand Operating System :-) is unlawful - or, at least, prosecutable
as a civil offense - unless one has a technology license from AT&T) or
"patent license" (use of a patented technology is unlawful etc. unless one
has a license from the patentee), and that's the way I'd use "license" in
the sense of "driving license".

> Therefore  if  I  have  insurance  for  my car, insurance being a regulated
> industry, am I not then required to have a license since I am now operating
> within  the  regulated industry.  If that is the case then if I do not have
> insurance then I don't need the license.

No, *you* are not operating within the regulated industry.  You are a *customer*
of a company operating within the regulated industry.  Do you need a license
to have a telephone connection to the local central office, just because the
telephone industry (well, the local service part, anyway) is regulated?

	Guy Harris
	{seismo,ihnp4,allegra}!rlgvax!guy