Yet another judgment re pseudolaw. In Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Cahill & Anor [2025] VCC 1860 the Court notes
The amended defences deny the existence of any lawful credit agreement between the parties, assert that CBA is a “corporate fiction,”and contend that no valid mortgage was created or that CBA lacks standing to enforce it. The defendants also dispute the quantum of the debt and demand production of “wet-ink” originals of various loan and title documents. Judge’s amended counterclaim makes bald and sweeping allegations that CBA engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct, relied on an unfair standard form contract contrary to the Australian Consumer Law, and “securitised” the mortgage in breach of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), thereby losing the right to enforce it. It further alleges that enforcement of the mortgage constitutes modern slavery and seeks, among other relief, the return of all payments made, the discharge of the mortgage, and damages.
In referring to 'Sovereign Citizens and pseudo law' the judgment states
The documents and submissions made by the defendants fall into a by now well-known quasi-philosophy known as the “sovereign citizen” movement. The guiding philosophy appears to be that these persons consider that they are not subject to the laws of the Commonwealth of Australia unless they have expressly “contracted” or consented to be so bound. This philosophy has no basis in law and has been rejected in many cases to date. All persons living under the protection of the Crown in right of the Commonwealth or State are, as a matter of law, subject to the laws of the Commonwealth. Any suggestion to the contrary is both dangerous and undermines the orderly arrangement of any society. The courts of this country will give no credence to such philosophy.
The documents and submissions filed by the defendants are informed by half-baked statements that contain traces of legal tit-bits scraped from current and ancient sources otherwise also referred to as “ pseudo-law ”. They are legal gibberish and do not constitute proper statements of principles known to law.
In Re Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd [2022] VSC 438, Hetyey Asj said the following of such submissions:
The defendants appear to be seeking to draw a distinction between themselves as ‘natural’ or ‘living’ persons, on the one hand, and their status as ‘legal’ personalities, on the other. However, contemporary Australian law does not distinguish between a human being and their legal personality. Any such distinction would potentially leave a human being without legal rights, which would be unacceptable in modern society. The contentions put forward by the defendants in this regard are artificial and have no legal consequence.
I adopt the analysis of John Dixon J in Stefan v McLachlan [2023] VSC 501, dealing with the fictional concept of the ‘living man’, stating that:
The law recognises a living person as having status in law and any person is, in this sense, a legal person. Conceptually, there may be differences between the legal status of a person and that of an entity that is granted a like legal status, but whatever they might be they have no application on this appeal. In asserting that he is a ‘living man’, the appellant does no more than identify that he is a person, an individual. Every person, every individual, and every entity accorded status as a legal person is subject to the rule of law. There are no exceptions in Australian society.
I also refer to AsJ Gobbo’s decision in Nelson v Greenman & Anor [2024] VSC 704 in which her Honour gives a comprehensive treatment of the fallacies underlying the sovereign citizen and pseudo law movements. I concur with and adopt her Honour’s treatment of the subject at paragraphs [53] – [78].
