As a practicing attorney I can tell you I never heard of the Meads case until it was posted in this thread – but, I’m a plaintiff’s personal-injury attorney, I never run into any SovCit types; perhaps a criminal-defense attorney would tell a different story.
I’m not a practicing attorney, or an attorney of any stripe, and I’d heard of it, but SovCits are my favorite kind of delusional kook, so I came across it at some point in some sort of “point fingers and laugh at the delusional kooks” section of the internet.
“point fingers and laugh at the delusional kooks” section of the internet.…
Fox news?
Or a tax lawyer. Pseudolaw that tells people they’re not really legally obliged to pay income tax is very appealing, for some reason.
A quick CanLII search shows that it’s been cited in 88 reported cases in Canada.
I’ve only found one pair of cases in the US, both decided the same day by the same judge in the US District Court, western district of New York. However, my search skills for US laws are limited, so I don’t know if that’s the extent of it.
Just wait until you get a plaintiff-client come in and say he was in a car accident and was hit by this weird guy with all sorts of unusual stickers on his car and who didn’t have a driver’s licence or plates on his car… 
Was he texting too?
Can’t imagine why.
Do they make cars out of tin foil?
But Ohio wasn’t legally admitted as a state, so the income tax is invalid.
Meads has also been cited by the Royal Court of the Island of Jersey: Vibert v AG, [2013] JRC 030
And by the High Court of Ireland: Freeman & anor -v- Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Limited & ors, [2013] IEHC 371; Kearney -v- KBC Bank Ireland Plc & Anor, [2014] IEHC 260; McCarthy & Ors -v- Bank of Scotland Plc & Anor, [2014] IEHC 340; Harrold -v- Nua Mortgages Limited, [2015] IEHC 15
And by Masters of the High Court of Justice of Northern Ireland: Parker v McKenna & Anor, [2015] NIMaster 1; Foster v McPeake & Ors [2015] NIMaster 14.
IANAL, but I read almost all of it when Der Trihs posted it, and it’s fascinating. I’d love to see Justice Rooker strip out some of the legal formatting and write it up as an article. I could see The Atlantic or The Economist publishing it.
I have a certain fondness for things legal.
When Meads was first posted, I read and enjoyed the whole lovely thing.
If someone wanted a business idea:
Create a parchment document no more than 15" wide, suitable for framing and display.
And be certain to use various fonts, typefaces (aka ‘fonts’), and, especially: Green Ink is certain places.
Bonus points if you can find the first page of the bozo’s documents. Formatted and printed verbatim.
I suspect a large number of lawyers can find wall space for them.
usedtobe: That would be fun! I’d love one of those!
Is there an image available on the internet?
Not that I know of - but I’ll give you rights to the idea - for free!
In the US, the Clerk of the Court has the documents submitted in a case.
Find the Clerk of the Court that heard Meads. You might have to go there in person to get copies of the originals instead of a scroll-able Wall-O-Text found online.
Okay seriously I just spent the evening reading Meads vrs Meads as noted above, and it was an evening well spent.
Came away from it wanting to read some absurdist novel based on a novel where OPCA concepts are actually the law of the land. It would be wonderful… {The story, not the reality}
Of course, US judges could not cite Meads (unless perhaps tangentially or in a footnote) since it’s not a US case, so you wouldn’t find many cites. But what I think I’ve heard is that the case, and more particularly, Rooke’s exhaustive treatment of the whole field, has become widely known in American jurisprudence circles, and very influential in people’s thinking. While the case itself doesn’t rest on any law that an American judge could cite, it certainly gives good general guidance about the background and “logic” they use, and points the way to good strategies for judges to deal with all that. American judges would have to find their own judgement and cites in American law, but Rooke’s paper shows the way.
So I was wondering how widely known and influential Meads is, even in American jurisprudence, however “informally” that may be.
Thanks. Are you required to accept such a person as a client? I can’t see how the hassle is worth the money involved.
We are not under an obligation to take on any person who walks through the door on any given issue. We are under obligations to serve the court and serve the public, and of course we have to make a living. It’s a matter of finding a balance.
Is the hassle worth my time? Well, look at it this way. How do you feel when you read a train wreck thread in which a nutter is popping his own festering intellectual zit? Now imagine being paid one or two grand to read that thread. The nutter makes for a relaxing diversion from far more emotionally challenging files, while still paying the freight.
Also, there’s a lot to be said for simply being willing to sit down and listen to someone who is ignored, and to try to find ways to help that person interact with society better. With this guy, it’s listening to him and then helping him interact with the court to get his point across without wasting the court’s time wading about in sovereign citizen madness.
A lot of my job involves trying to help people with various strongly held beliefs understand why the law, for better or worse, conflicts with their beliefs.