Yes, and – as per your link – the woo-woo in question would cheerfully answer likewise about his idée fixe. Where did the statute of limitations come from? Where did double jeopardy come from? Where did Miranda rights come from? Where did rules of inadmissible evidence come from? They all came from within the legal system, which has power over everything, including the legal system itself. Where, we ask the woo-woo, did this “gold fringe” technicality come from? He’d answer by saying it came from the legal system, which has power over everything, including the legal system itself. He’d answer by saying it came from U.S.C. Chapter 1 and an Executive Order signed by Eisenhower that got published in the Federal Register and everything.
The woo-woo in your link doesn’t postulate a deity as justification or put forth some truth held to be self-evident; he’s out to base his odd claim on codified decisions from elected government officials, and will say “Act of Congress” this and “Presidential signature” that when pressed.
By contrast, Ravenman’s latest post links to a woo-woo page that doesn’t build an argument around the same stuff that gave rise to statutes of limitations and double-jeopardy rules and so on. Ravenman’s link showcases a whole different kind of crazy. But your guy? Your guy claims the “gold fringe” claim has its basis within the legal system, just like age-of-consent laws and admissible-evidence restrictions and double-jeopardy bans. Your guy would have no problem describing the gold-fringe rule the same way you just described the statute-of-limitations rule.
Not that Ravenman’s link is entirely unhelpful in this regard:
[QUOTE=Ravenman]
The Freeman position is that they can exempt themselves from any argument in any court by simply saying the right things. (See my citation.) Again, it is BS.
[/QUOTE]
But if you poke around on that linked website a bit, a number of 'em quickly add that the Magna Carta and the Petition of Right and the Bill of Rights of 1689 and the 1700 Act of Settlement are legal statutes that were made by the people and rubber-stamped by British Parliament. Horatius linked to a post and thread on a different site where a woo-woo attempts to cite Section 18 of the Notary Act. DrDeth linked to a page of stories about people trying to get proceedings dropped by citing everything from the Coinage Act of 1792 to the Thirteenth Amendment to the OMB number of the Treasury regulation requiring the filing of a Form 1040. Northern Piper and Miss Violaceous agreed that woo-woos keep on citing the Uniform Commercial Code.
I’m sure there are woo-woos out there who don’t fit that bill. But there seem to be plenty who believe they’re merely citing this or that codified technicality, whether from an enacted statute or a Constitutional Amendment or whatever, in much the same way that you or I would legitimately cite a twenty-year statute of limitations or a Constitutional ban on double-jeopardy proceedings or whatever.
[QUOTE=Ravenman]
Again, a claim that the statute of limitations ran out doesn’t bring an end to a legal process. The claim must be examined for its legal aspects (what law is alleged to have been broken? What is the statute of limitations?) and factual (when did the crime occur?). There can be argument by either side on these matters.
[/QUOTE]
And, again, they don’t figure that merely saying the courtroom’s flag has a gold fringe on it brings an end to the legal process either.
Look, you don’t automatically win a case in the real world by saying “they’re claiming I committed this crime more than five years ago, and that’s past the statute of limitations”. If you say that and they’re accusing you of a crime committed five days ago, the magic words accomplish nothing; they’ll check the date and proceed. If you say it’s a five-year statute of limitations and it’s a twenty-year one, you’ll likewise fail to stop 'em in their tracks; they’ll cite the right law and cheerfully proceed. But if you’re right about the facts and the law, then saying “the statute of limitations already ran out” – well, it works.
It works even though they really want to lock you up for raping that poor girl. It works even though they really want to prosecute you for robbing all those people or dealing all those drugs or whatever.
Ditto for saying “double jeopardy, man; this court already litigated that matter.” It doesn’t work if you’re wrong, but it works if you’re right – no matter that they really want to lock you up for the rape or the robbery or whatever. Ditto for claiming you were under the age of consent when you signed the contract: you’re raising a question of fact (how old were you then?) and a question of law (what age is codified as the cut-off?) – so, yeah, don’t try saying it if you weren’t under the age of consent, and don’t try claiming the age of consent is thirty-seven either. But if the facts and the law are on your side, then, sure, mention it for the win.
And that’s how they feel about the gold fringe on flags. Even the woo-woos don’t think it automatically gets you a win; you’re merely raising a question of fact, in a courtroom where the flag might have a silver fringe or a black one or no fringe at all. But if you are in a courtroom where the flag has a gold fringe, then as with a statute of limitations or a ban on double-jeopardy prosecutions or whatever – well, the legal question is whether you can provide a relevant cite from codified law, sure as the factual question is whether this flag has that fringe.