Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

to think the 'common law/freeman on the land' thing is a whole load of bollocks?

794 replies

qwertypop · 01/06/2014 20:10

I've come across a few people over the last few years that take it very seriously and bang on at length about how the police and courts have no authority over them as they are self declared 'freemen'. Something to do with common law being the only true law in Britain, I think? And not having to wear bike helmets or pay for TV licenses or repay your debts also seem important to the ones I've had the dubious pleasure of meeting.

A couple I met at the weekend have taken the biscuit though and not registered their baby's birth because apparently this will mean said baby grows up to be a 'freeman' (she's actually a girl but the term appears to be freeman anyway). They believe quite firmly that to register her birth will mean that the law assumes her and her name (which is a fucking corker, of course) are one and the same and that only by NOT registering her birth can she be free to be a human being. Quite what this actually means is a mystery to me and tbh the mumbo jumbo they gave me by way of an answer leads me to suspect they don't really know either Hmm

I've tried to read up on it but all the info I can find is written in a style you'd expect of an paranoid, delusional, and possibly hallucinating chimpanzee let loose with a legal dictionary.

So AIBU to think this is bollocky woo of the most fucking ridiculous type? Or is someone going to come along and actually enlighten me as to wtf its all about, preferably in plain English with no pseudo-legalese?

OP posts:
LisaMed1 · 22/07/2016 21:45

Actually, the people who may be interested in the influence of Roman Law on English Common Law are the sort of people who understand rational thought and are not going to be swept away by the crayon of doom coming in, drawing in ALL CAPs, and telling us that they are cleverererer than us.

The ones that come in and TELL US ALL THAT THEY KNOW EVERYTHING aren't likely to be affected by an argument about the history of law. They are more likely to be too busy getting REALLY ANGRY because IT ISN'T FAIR.

BerriesandLeaves · 01/08/2016 17:23

I'd never heard of this "free man of the land" business until this thread was reawakened, but it came up in this news story where the guy (who escaped and has still not been found) was saying "I'm a free man of the land" when the police did a drug raid and saw fire arms. m.surreymirror.co.uk/everything-we-know-so-far-about-the-smallfield-police-standoff/story-29562446-detail/story.html

Tw85 · 03/10/2016 14:31

Ref. to Qwertypop of June 2014 - about the freeman movement and the common law.
Dear me, it never ceases to amaze me how people who have obviously not properly researched a subject or bothered to research it at all seem to think it's okay to comment on it with uninformed and if anything disinformed comments. I had to reply to this having just come across it. I am a woman who does understand the common law after researching it - wow! One of the rare women who does according to Qwertypop. Further, I have used the common law to great success against a system out to deceive us at every turn. You say no one is above the law - no definitely not the common law! The common law is the highest law, it is the Law-of-the-Land and it is set in stone. However the 'law' that the system talks about is statutory law - which can only be implemented with the consent of the people and the individual - and is NOT law. It is legislation. It is Admiralty Law which does not have any authority on land. And this is where the system deceives us - because the system cons us into paying e.g. parking on a yellow line when it's not in a dangerous spot in order to just make money out of us and nothing more. And don't be conned into thinking that the authorities need the money - they don't, plus, they are all private companies.
My advice is go and do some proper research before you make any more uninformed comments.

wasonthelist · 03/10/2016 15:14

TW85 if you'd researched the English Language, you'd know there's ni such word as "disinformed" :)

"because the system cons us into paying e.g. parking on a yellow line when it's not in a dangerous spot in "

Actually it doesn't. I don't park on double yellow lines. It's not hard.

Sackmagique · 03/10/2016 15:17

TW85, please tell us more about your fabulous victories against the system! How were these achieved?

scarednoob · 03/10/2016 15:23

here you go tw85, here's a nice legal Biscuit for you

eggyface · 03/10/2016 15:29

Tw85 - have you ever been to the doctor or to hospital? Did you go to school? I wonder who paid for that?

eggyface · 03/10/2016 15:31

Spoiler: it was "the system"

Nakatomi · 03/10/2016 15:31

Oh this will be good. Yes, please tell us Tw85 about all your FOTL successes. Go on.

IsItJustFuck1ngMe · 03/10/2016 15:52

Watched a doc couple of weeks ago and some 'freeman' was terrorising his neighbourhood and being all round vile specimen saying 'he didn't recognise the law blah blah blah'.

He intimidated some blokes poor elderly wife, and the bloke (quite elderly too) smacked him one. First thing Mr Freeman did ....... Ring the police HmmConfused

dukesy68 · 03/10/2016 16:22

Oooh.. this thread is alive again.,.

Gets popcorn and awaits Tw85 responses

MrsTerryPratchett · 03/10/2016 16:24

How many times has this poor thread been reanimated? It's like Frankenstein's monster.

KatharinaRosalie · 03/10/2016 16:29

I'm afraid that reading a few conspiracy websites is not actually considered 'research'

CockacidalManiac · 03/10/2016 16:33

Hey, I remember this one when I was calling myself RandomNPC, I loved arguing with these nutters.

CockacidalManiac · 03/10/2016 16:36

I thought we might get a resurgence of these Freeman of the Land loonies when these posters started to appear.

to think the 'common law/freeman on the land' thing is a whole load of bollocks?
MrHannahSnell · 03/10/2016 17:38

Tw85 reading bullshit written by halfwits is not "proper research".

PikachuSayBoo · 03/10/2016 17:41

I love this shit!

flippinada · 03/10/2016 17:44

Oh, I've seen one of those posters near me, but it's in red (they seem to be fond of red ime). Made me think of this thread and here it is. Had a few run ins with some of these delightful chaps in a previous job.

slightlypeevedwombat · 03/10/2016 17:44

Ref. to Qwertypop of June 2014 - about the freeman movement and the common law.

ref Tw85 Mon 03-Oct-16 14:31:08

you're over 2 years late love

delboysfileofax · 03/10/2016 17:48

Ha! Common law is set in stone is it? Please tell us how it came about. :)

BumbleNova · 03/10/2016 17:53

this is one of the funniest things I have ever read... thank you tw85 for resurrecting this lunacy, its made my afternoon. and yes, you are the one who should do some research, "common law" is er not what you think it is.

RebootYourEngine · 03/10/2016 18:01

just i saw that programme too. The guy had been on a few programmes alongthe same lines however on them he was made out to be the victim. On the programme a few weeks ago it was shown that actually he was a big fucking knobend. He thought that because his wife was foreign everyone was being racist rather than them getting pissed off at HIS behaviour.

IsItJustFuck1ngMe · 03/10/2016 18:04

Reboot that's the one!!!!!! I was effing overjoyed when he got twatted ... And loved hearing his weedy little 'police please' voice on the phone begging for help the 'establishment' he didn't recognise. Ha ha ha !!!!

RebootYourEngine · 03/10/2016 18:11

just I liked the bit at the end when he sat sulking like a 2yr old because he didnt get his own way in court.

LadyConstanceDeCoverlet · 03/10/2016 18:11

I love the idea that statute law can only be implemented with the consent of the people and the individual. It already is implemented with the consent of the people, because it's brought into being by MPs voted into place by the people. The concept that an individual is only bound by the law if s/he consents is terrifically convenient but self-evidently bollocks. Try robbing a bank and telling the nice policeman he has to let you off because you haven't consented to being bound by the Theft Act, and see how far it gets you.

Swipe left for the next trending thread