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Daniel Gross reports on a doughty band of tax protesters who insist that they are not actually obliged by law to engage in payroll tax withholding, and quotes our editor as describing this position as...
View ArticleInmates’ fraudulent liens
Across the country, reports Court TV, prison inmates are harassing lawyers and court personnel by filing liens against them for supposed violations of the inmates’ copyright in their own names. The...
View ArticleVarieties of “you lack jurisdiction” eccentricity
Durable as a matter of folk law though carrying no weight at all within most courts as actually constituted, various widely circulated theories (“free man,” “sovereign citizen,” etc.) purport to...
View ArticleDecember 23 roundup
Metro-North train crash spurs calls for mandatory crash-prevention devices. Think twice [Steve Chapman] BP sues attorney Mikal Watts [Insurance Journal] Exaggerated Gulf-spill claims as a business...
View Article“Efforts under way to convene ‘common law grand juries'”
No, a random group of discontented citizens can’t declare itself a grand jury. Good grief. [Bozeman Daily Chronicle; compare frivolous "sovereign citizen" claims] More: Greenfield. Tweet Tags: folk law...
View ArticleThe “sovereign citizen” cult
A big source of frivolous litigation these days, the “sovereign citizen” cult originated on the political right but has now spread more widely [Lorelei Laird, ABA Journal]: When involved in any legal...
View ArticleCosts of criticizing a physician
The defendant in the Duluth doctor-rating defamation case that we recounted here and here “told the Star Tribune he spent the equivalent of two years’ income, some of which he had to borrow from...
View ArticleIllinois judge rebuffs prolific folk-law filer
Mr. Wemple’s various lawsuits have named as defendants all Illinois judicial circuits as well as, more recently, “the Illinois State Bar Association and all of its members,” for conscripting him into a...
View ArticleMarch 25 roundup
Yikes: Nevada supreme court is nearly broke because it relies on traffic ticket revenue and cops are writing fewer [Las Vegas Review-Journal] Forced marriage in immigrant communities happening not...
View ArticleTax arguments you can count on to fail
For our folk-law category, a list of sure-loser arguments on behalf of tax non-compliance, including “Paying federal taxes is optional,” “Wages are not ‘income,'” “I got paid in paper money, which is...
View ArticleIn California law enforcement news…
Authorities in southern California are doubtful about a private fraternal group’s claim of lawful right to wield police jurisdiction over 33 states and Mexico, even though one of its promoters happens...
View ArticleJanuary 15 roundup
Malheur standoff: here come the self-styled “citizens’ grand jury” hobbyists [Oregonian, my two cents on this branch of folk law, earlier] Your egg-flipping, coffee-guzzling grandma was right all...
View ArticleBundy group’s claims are non-starters legally
Les Saitz in The Oregonian examines the constitutional land and sovereignty claims of the Malheur occupiers, which tend to sound in what I have previously called folk law. Many in the group were...
View Article“I’ll pretend you’re a boat,’ the judge said dryly”
“Twenty years ago I prosecuted a tax protester who claimed — as one does — that the gold fringe on the courtroom flag made it an admiralty court. ‘I’ll pretend you’re a boat,’ the judge said dryly and...
View ArticleMarch 16 roundup
Maryland: no strict liability when noise from lawful fireworks display causes cows to stampede in nearby barn [Volokh] Minimum wage and affordable housing: “Oregon Legislature Repeals Laws of Supply...
View ArticleJune 1 roundup
Report: TV comedy incorporated old footage of videogame from YouTube clip, then sent clip’s originator takedown notice based on its having content identical to that in show [Damien McFerran,...
View ArticleLitigant tries to arrest judge in court
It didn’t work out well for the litigant in this case from Northern Ireland, but then the tactic seldom works out well anywhere, even when as here the litigant happens to be a police officer [In re...
View ArticleApril 12 roundup
Judge denies motion to dismiss in Kentucky Trump rally violence suit, now try explaining what that means to some headline writers [Ken White, Popehat] False liens, threats of “arrest” cited in...
View ArticleAugust 16 roundup
Federalist Society podcast with Wayne Crews and Devon Westhill on subregulatory guidance, agency memos, circulars, Dear Colleague letters, and other regulatory “dark matter”; Having announced end to...
View Article“Phase 4: be recognized as the lawful King of Australia.”
That might be the hard part of the plan [Lowering the Bar] Tags: Australia, folk law “Phase 4: be recognized as the lawful King of Australia.” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost...
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