A Frequent Recurrence to Fundamental Principles: Individual Rights, Free Government, and the Washington State Constitution

Article 1, section 32, of the Washington State Constitution provides for a "recurrence to fundamental principles" as a means of protecting individual rights and free government. Since the adoption of the constitution in 1889, section 32 has been used infrequently by Washington's legal community. This Comment examines the role of section 32 in constitutional analysis by distilling four fundamental principles from the structure of the state constitution and the historical and legal environment existing in 1889. From these principles, this Comment concludes that the framers of the Washington Constitution intended that section 32 be used to expand the scope of individual rights protected by the constitution.