International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation Volume 6 2023 44
A Commonwealth-friendly Canadian Freemen-on-
the-Land variant of pseudolaw was introduced into
the UK circa 2007 (Netolitzky, 2018a, pp. 12-13). Early
UK pseudolaw promoters such as John Harris of “The
People’s United Community” (“INSTRUCTIONS
ON HOW,” 2008 “John Harris,” 2011) and the British
Constitution Group (“British Constitution Group,”
n.d.) immediately grounded their extraordinary claims
with the Magna Carta and via “lawful rebellion”
(Netolitzky, 2018a, p. 13).
The direct antecedent to the modern MCLR first
emerged in 20147
1
when David Robinson (1965-2020)8
adopted Magna Carta Society concepts (Robinson,
2019a), and claimed immunity from government and
legislation by swearing an oath of allegiance to the
2001 New Rebel Barons (Holt, 2019). From the first,
the MCLR has been chiefly organized and promoted
via Facebook.9 The first identified “in person” meetings
occurred in Glastonbury that same year (Practical
Lawful Dissent, 2014 torquaytalkeytv, 2014). Robinson
was and remains the sole cornerstone theoretician for
the MCLR, and appears to have directed the MCLR
movement (to the extent the MCLR was an organized
phenomenon) until his death on November 10, 2020
(Phoenix, 2020d Phoenix, 2021a).
Figure 2 -David Robinson, MCLR founder and chief
theoretician. This image is from one of Robinson’s very few
educational/promotional video recordings (Denounce the
Deception UK, 2017).
7 Robinson also claimed he had been in “lawful rebellion” since 2010
(Robinson, 2017, pp. 4-5).
8 Personal Facebook website: https://www.facebook.com/david.
messenger.716.
9 Robinson founded the “Practical Lawful Dissent” Facebook group
(https://www.facebook.com/groups/practicallawfuldissent) in 2014.
Between 2014 and 2020, the MCLR and its adherents
appear to have engaged in little direct action or organized
in-person activity,10 though isolated attempts to apply
MCLR theory were reported (e.g., “Boxer jailed,” 2017).
Probably the most dramatic step was when Robinson and
several followers “seized” the Glastonbury town hall on
October 14, 2014, though that event appears to simply
be those individuals refusing to leave the municipal
meeting chambers (Longlegs, 2014 Messenger, 2015).
Instead, during these formative years, Robinson focused
on developing a set of form documents to implement
his Article 61 theories, subsequently self-published
in a text titled Laymans Guide to Lawful Rebellion &
Practical Application of the Common Law (Robinson,
2017a). MCLR adherents have often reported attempts
to use Robinson’s methods, typically minor debt and
tax evasion, or as a “get out of jail free” card. Quatloos
documents numerous failures by MCLR adherents who
deployed MCLR theories and paperwork (Gregg, 2017
SteveUK, 2017).
Robinson and his MCLR followers appeared, at best,
to occupy a “second tier” position in the UK pseudolaw
hierarchy behind transvestite Freemen-on-the-Land
promoters Veronica Chapmen and “Kate of Gaia,” and
debt-elimination and money-for-nothing schemes
promoted by the GetOutOfDebtFree website and the
WeReBank (Netolitzky, 2018a, pp. 13-14). Robinson
himself became disillusioned with his own movement,
and in April 2020 ceased promoting his concepts, and
essentially abandoned the core MCLR Facebook group
(Robinson, 2020a).
The MCLR’s subsequent global renaissance instead
originated in Canada. In February 2019, an Alberta
resident named Jacqueline Robinson (b. 1975) created
a Facebook group titled “International Practical Lawful
Dissent” to propagate MCLR concepts.11 Jacqueline
Robinson consistently self-identifies as “Jacquie
Phoenix,”12 a pseudolaw name distinct from her false
“legal fiction” name (AVI v MHVB, 2020 ABQB 489,
paras. 6-20). David Robinson and Jacqueline Robinson
10 The Practical Lawful Dissent Facebook group only indicates three
meeting events organized by Robinson.
11 Facebook group website: https://www.facebook.com/
groups/754338414949984//. This group has changed its name repeatedly,
and currently is called “Practical Lawful Dissent International.”
12 Personal Facebook website: https://www.facebook.com/jacqueline.
robinson.5076.

ISSN: 2710-4028 DOI: doi.org/10.54208/1000/0006 45
are not related.13 For clarity this article will only refer to
the latter via her “common law” alias, Jacquie Phoenix.
Figure 3 -Jacqueline Robinson, a.k.a. “Jacquie Phoenix.”
Phoenix habitually dresses in this manner, but the staff and
“crystal” orb held here first appeared while Phoenix was
illegally in the UK, conducting her “Redress” tour. Phoenix
recently referred to this object as “David’s Staff holds the
Guardian Heart Stone of the Holye Trynytye” (Phoenix,
2021e).
Phoenix’s Facebook group soon attracted large numbers
of followers, though Phoenix did not actually offer
anything new. Instead, Phoenix robotically replicated
Robinson’s theories, to the point of claiming spelling
errors in Robinson’s template documents indicated
special and privileged knowledge. Phoenix initially
promoted MCLR concepts to Canadians, but soon her
clientele expanded, particularly to a UK audience.
After Robinson’s death, Phoenix immediately took
on the MCLR’s leadership mantle, and within weeks
travelled to the UK, allegedly to attend Robinson’s
funeral (Ginsburg, 2020 Phoenix, 2020e). However,
in the following months, Phoenix circulated between
dozens of cities, holding “Redress” meetings.
Photographs from “Redress” meetings show these in-
person gatherings breached COVID-19 pandemic
health restrictions. While Phoenix’s presence initially
stimulated much excitement in MCLR circles,
“Redress” was repeatedly postponed, with only vague
13 Phoenix apparently claimed otherwise, which led to a falling
out with Robinson in July 2020 (Robinson, 2020b). The two subsequently
reconciled, as illustrated by a November 5, 2020 YouTube video (Phoenix,
2020a).
explanations of funding barriers and sabotage by
“controlled opposition:” government traitors within the
MCLR’s ranks. By summer 2021, Phoenix demanded
her followers personally appear at Commonwealth
police stations, to “Lobby the Bobby,” and convert
law enforcement into allies who would then execute
reprisals against Magna Carta deniers as traitors and
seditionists.
After months of delays, in August 2021 Phoenix
announced that “Redress” had occurred, though
nothing apparently transpired beyond Phoenix making
further public appearances and statements. Instead,
Phoenix denounced actions by some of her followers,
particularly an attempted occupation of Edinburgh
Castle in Scotland (Badshaw, 2021 Van Balion, 2021).
Post-“Redress,” Phoenix’s public statements halted until
late September 2021. Phoenix’s messaging to the MCLR
then took a radical turn, abandoning pseudolaw for
Christian apocalyptic motifs about judgment of souls
(Phoenix, 2021c Phoenix 2021d), and, apparently,
that the MCLR project had now terminated (Phoenix,
2021e). Phoenix then closed access to the Practical
Lawful Dissent International Facebook group, which
has lapsed into inactivity.
The apparently final stage of the MCLR phenomenon
is Phoenix briefly reemerged the following year to
announce that she would publicly unveil three “Talking
Paintings” as part of a “Global Announcement” on
April 29, 2022. A recording of this event, held in
the basement of the St. James Church, Piccadilly, in
London UK, was subsequently released on YouTube
(Phoenix, 2022), and illustrated Phoenix sitting with
the three “Talking Paintings,” see Figure 4.
Figure 4 -Phoenix and the three “Talking Paintings” presented
during a “Public Unveiling” on April 29, 2022 in the basement of the
St. James Church, Piccadilly in London, UK. The “talking” aspect
of these paintings is the small white boxes above the three paintings
that are some kind of speaker/audio player apparatus, each of which
played a recording of Phoenix relating to the particular painting.