Desperate times can sometimes call for desperate measures. It is therefore not difficult to see why the suggestion that you are not bound by legislation or commercial law may be attractive to someone who has mounting debt problems or is facing eviction from their home. This is essentially what is promised by various groups of people whose theories are all based around the ‘freemen of the land’ movement in North America.
The general claim is that there is a big state conspiracy – between the government, judges, civil servants, lawyers etc – to take away citizens ‘common law rights’. This all starts from the moment your parents registered your birth. Freemen see the birth certificate as a contractual document with the state signing over the legal title of the baby. The suggestion is that there is a distinction between you as a man or woman – John, of the Family Smith – and Mr John Smith who is the legal entity owned by the state.
The suggestion is that if you do not consent to being bound by the law then you will not be bound. This way official demands for payment of fines, to appear in court etc can simply be declined. By following various freeman rituals – e.g. asking the Judge if he or she is on their “oath” / refusing to enter the Court room unless the Judge agrees that your god given rights are intact / producing a birth certificate to be the respondent rather than the man/woman themselves – then the Court will have no jurisdiction over you and the Claim will be dismissed. It sounds like a wonderfully simple way to make all of your problems go away.
The problem is that it is, put simply, nonsense.
In the 2012 case of Meads v. Meads, a Canadian Judge forensically deconstructed and dismissed freemen-style arguments in a detailed 192 page judgment. This is a long read, but essential if you have any doubt that what the Freemen are peddling is anything other than nonsense.
The real problem is that not only will the Freemen arguments not magically make everything better – they may in fact land you in contempt of court – facing imprisonment or at the very least a substantial fine.
For example, in 2015 at Sandwell Magistrates’ Court, an uninsured driver was sentenced to 14 days imprisonment for contempt of court after claiming to be a Freeman-of-the-Land and therefore outside of the jurisdiction of the Court.
Unfortunately, there are no magic cures or silver bullets when it comes to legal problems. There is no substitute for taking early legal advice from a trained professional and being represented by someone who can fight your corner in accordance with the legitimate laws of this land.
Further reading:
Meads v Meads 2012 ABQB 571 (CanLII) https://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abqb/doc/2012/2012abqb571/2012abqb571.html
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/freeman-land-driver-jailed-contempt-10253089
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-12668444
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36499750
Upon receiving your enquiry a public access clerk will contact you within 24 hours to discuss your case in further detail. Please see our 4 steps outlining the process of instructing a public access barrister with Barrister For Me.
