pseudolaw

This is a term that has bumbled along through the 1900s (though unrecorded by the Oxford English Dictionary). Since 2020 its frequency has skyrocketed.  This is of course all to do with sovereign citizens and their tendency to invent legal justifications for their actions which go back to the Magna Carta.  They also argue that Common Law overrides legislation, whereas in fact it is the other way round.  Hardest to understand is the distinction between a ‘legal person’ and a ‘living person’ or a ‘natural person’. The latter is a human being with legal rights and obligations. The former is a company or organisation which for specific purposes, such as the acquiring of property, is regarded as a legal entity. This is fine. Sovereign citizens twist this legal arrangement.  They argue that governments create various documents like birth certificates, driving licences, etc., for an individual viewed as a legal entity. By asserting themselves as living persons or natural persons they can escape this government-imposed legal entity and all its obligations.

COVID restrictions united a disparate group of people — some far right extremists, some anti-vaxxers, some ordinary people unable to cope with lockdown.  They found comfort and support in the pseudolaw that appeared to bolster their resistance to COVID laws and regulations. This resistance has continued to all laws and regulations they don’t like.  Unfortunately, the police, as the enforcers of the real law, are immediately under attack.