public mood, anything that seems to
stick it to The Man has an appeal.
I’m not happy with endless government
charges or with banks repossessing
houses, any more than anyone else is,
but if people put trust in this guff, some
of them will find themselves in jail.
(Crehan, 2013, p. 5)
For Crehan, the final test of Freeman law was its
success rate in court, but “[t]here is literally not
one single instance, worldwide, of Freeman
arguments ever succeeding before a court...”
(Crehan, 2012, p. 4).
The New Zealand and Australian
Freemen Debate
American Sovereign Citizens have undertaken
speaking trips to New Zealand and Australia
(Anti-Defamation League, 2010, p. 15)—
countries whose farmers also struggle (in their
cases, often because of drought [Perry, 2013
Thompson, 2013]), and supporters in both
countries have established relatively small but
typical Internet websites. One Australian group
calling itself United Rights Australia is
attempting to stimulate discussion of numerous
issues, many of which are typical Sovereign
concerns: taxes, fines, property rights,
sentencing, and so on (U R Australia, n.d.). An
Internet site from Perth, Australia gives a basic
statement of Sovereign beliefs (i.e., rejection of
being a “person” created by the state, the
ascendency of “natural law,” the rejection of
hidden or unrevealed “contracts,” issues
involving taxes, birth certificates, marriage
licenses [Kimosabi, 2008]). Another site
reproduces protest letters sent to Australia’s
Commission of Taxation (Authority of the Tax
Office Questioned, n. d.), and still another
argues that the Commonwealth of Australia is a
corporation (Commonwealth of Australia is a
Corporation, n. d.). From these websites,
however, it is impossible to determine how
many adherents to these positions live in the
country.
Mental Illness and Personality Disorders
Through the Internet, prison recruitments, and
seminars, various con artists flourish by hawking
get-rich-quick schemes to financially stressed
individuals within the antigovernment
movement. Although a significant portion of
these people are stressed because of their
treatment by social institutions, others
demonstrate behaviors that resemble varying
degrees of mental illness that may not
necessarily be derived from objective social
conditions. When, for example, Associate Chief
Justice Rooke offered his written opinion about
OPCA litigants, one of the cases from which he
quoted (on a decision concerning submissions
by a Moorish law adherent) suggested that the
litigants either were delusional or suffered some
type of mental impairment (Rooke, 2012, para.
180). Rooke cited a District of Columbia case in
which the court ruling described a Freeman
plaintiff’s argument as one of “fantastic or
delusional scenarios” that may have reflected
“delusional thinking” (Rooke, 2012, para. 180).
Reaching a different ruling on a Moorish law-
related case, the Immigration and Refugee Board
of Canada, Immigration Appeal Division,
decided that a Moorish law statement to it was
not written by someone who was mad and
delusional, but instead was written by someone
making a political statement (Rooke, 2012, see
p. 1196). Without pushing the question of
mental health too far, suffice it to say that
psychiatry’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
(DSM) V includes behavior characteristics of
some Sovereign Citizens, Freemen, and other
OPCA litigants.
In its section on delusional disorders, the DSM
has a discussion of “Associated Feature and
Disorders.” That discussion begins as follows:
Social, marital, or work problems can
result from the delusional beliefs of
delusional disorder. Individuals with
delusional disorder may be able to
factually describe that others view their
beliefs as irrational but are unable to
accept this themselves (i.e., there may
be “factual insight” but no true insight).
Many individuals develop irritable or
dysphoric mood, which can usually be
understood as a reaction to their
delusional beliefs. Anger and violent
behavior can occur with persecutory,
jealous, and erotomanic types. The
individual may engage in litigious or
International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 6, 2015 11
stick it to The Man has an appeal.
I’m not happy with endless government
charges or with banks repossessing
houses, any more than anyone else is,
but if people put trust in this guff, some
of them will find themselves in jail.
(Crehan, 2013, p. 5)
For Crehan, the final test of Freeman law was its
success rate in court, but “[t]here is literally not
one single instance, worldwide, of Freeman
arguments ever succeeding before a court...”
(Crehan, 2012, p. 4).
The New Zealand and Australian
Freemen Debate
American Sovereign Citizens have undertaken
speaking trips to New Zealand and Australia
(Anti-Defamation League, 2010, p. 15)—
countries whose farmers also struggle (in their
cases, often because of drought [Perry, 2013
Thompson, 2013]), and supporters in both
countries have established relatively small but
typical Internet websites. One Australian group
calling itself United Rights Australia is
attempting to stimulate discussion of numerous
issues, many of which are typical Sovereign
concerns: taxes, fines, property rights,
sentencing, and so on (U R Australia, n.d.). An
Internet site from Perth, Australia gives a basic
statement of Sovereign beliefs (i.e., rejection of
being a “person” created by the state, the
ascendency of “natural law,” the rejection of
hidden or unrevealed “contracts,” issues
involving taxes, birth certificates, marriage
licenses [Kimosabi, 2008]). Another site
reproduces protest letters sent to Australia’s
Commission of Taxation (Authority of the Tax
Office Questioned, n. d.), and still another
argues that the Commonwealth of Australia is a
corporation (Commonwealth of Australia is a
Corporation, n. d.). From these websites,
however, it is impossible to determine how
many adherents to these positions live in the
country.
Mental Illness and Personality Disorders
Through the Internet, prison recruitments, and
seminars, various con artists flourish by hawking
get-rich-quick schemes to financially stressed
individuals within the antigovernment
movement. Although a significant portion of
these people are stressed because of their
treatment by social institutions, others
demonstrate behaviors that resemble varying
degrees of mental illness that may not
necessarily be derived from objective social
conditions. When, for example, Associate Chief
Justice Rooke offered his written opinion about
OPCA litigants, one of the cases from which he
quoted (on a decision concerning submissions
by a Moorish law adherent) suggested that the
litigants either were delusional or suffered some
type of mental impairment (Rooke, 2012, para.
180). Rooke cited a District of Columbia case in
which the court ruling described a Freeman
plaintiff’s argument as one of “fantastic or
delusional scenarios” that may have reflected
“delusional thinking” (Rooke, 2012, para. 180).
Reaching a different ruling on a Moorish law-
related case, the Immigration and Refugee Board
of Canada, Immigration Appeal Division,
decided that a Moorish law statement to it was
not written by someone who was mad and
delusional, but instead was written by someone
making a political statement (Rooke, 2012, see
p. 1196). Without pushing the question of
mental health too far, suffice it to say that
psychiatry’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
(DSM) V includes behavior characteristics of
some Sovereign Citizens, Freemen, and other
OPCA litigants.
In its section on delusional disorders, the DSM
has a discussion of “Associated Feature and
Disorders.” That discussion begins as follows:
Social, marital, or work problems can
result from the delusional beliefs of
delusional disorder. Individuals with
delusional disorder may be able to
factually describe that others view their
beliefs as irrational but are unable to
accept this themselves (i.e., there may
be “factual insight” but no true insight).
Many individuals develop irritable or
dysphoric mood, which can usually be
understood as a reaction to their
delusional beliefs. Anger and violent
behavior can occur with persecutory,
jealous, and erotomanic types. The
individual may engage in litigious or
International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 6, 2015 11
