David Wynn Miller
David Wynn Miller | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Pseudolegal theorist |
Known for | Creator of "Quantum Grammar", a language purported to have legal effect |
Movement | Sovereign citizens |
David Wynn Miller (died 2018
Claimed Background
Miller lived in
Miller's activism stemmed from his own frustrating experience with the legal system.
Work and views
Constructed language and linguistic theories
Miller claimed to have created his language in 1988[12] by discovering "the mathematical interface in the truth that certifies all 5,000 languages, frontwards and backwards."[13] According to Miller, the use of his language guaranteed success in court cases and it could also be used to eliminate taxes and disbar judges.[4][14] In the following years, he promoted it through seminars, books and videos.[13]
Miller's constructed language, known in full as "CORRECT-SENTENCE-STRUCTURE-COMMUNICATION-PARSE-SYNTAX-GRAMMAR" (shortened as "C.-S.-S.-C.-P.-S.-G."),[15][16] is also variously called, with or without capital letters, "PARSE-SYNTAX-GRAMMAR",[1] "CORRECT-LANGUAGE",[1] "QUANTUM-LANGUAGE-PARSE-SYNTAX-GRAMMAR",[16] "Quantum language",[4] "Quantum Grammar",[17][18] "Truth Language"[10] "Syntax Language",[12] "In the Truth",[17] "Syntax sentencing"[8] or "QUANTUM-MATH-COMMUNICATIONS".[1] The name "Quantum Grammar" eventually became commonly used in the sovereign citizen environment.[17]
Miller's design involves sentences that begin with
FOR THE FORMS OF OUR PUNCTUATIONS ARE WITH THE CLAIM OF THE USE: FULL-COLON=POSITION-LODIO-FACTS, HYPHEN=COMPOUND-FACTS =KNOWN, PERIOD=END-THOUGHT, COMMA-PAUSE, AND LOCATION-TILDES WITH THE MEANINGS AND USES OF THE COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE FULL-COLON OF THE POSITION-LODIAL-FACT-PHRASE WITH THE FACT/KNOWN-TERM OF THE POSITIONAL-LODIO-FACT-PHRASE AND WITH THE VOID OF THE NOM-DE-GUERRE = DEAD-PERSON.[15]
Miller's ideas about language are notably rooted in the idea that only nouns have legal meaning and that their meanings are static and absolute.[1][8] This had led Miller to arbitrarily recast words' definitions and roles according to his own understanding and convenience.[1] Among the idiosyncratic rules of the language he created, sentences must contain at least 13 words and use more nouns than verbs,[10] sentences used in court filings must start with prepositional phrases,[11] a preposition is needed to certify a noun,[19] and a word that starts with a vowel followed by two consonants means "no contract" and will therefore void any document.[12][20]
Although the language he pioneered is incomprehensible to most people, Miller asserted that it can end all forms of misunderstanding and conflict[1] and called mainstream English language a "fiction".[12] Miller has also been described as leading a "linguistic cult".[12]
After creating his language, Miller began styling his name as "David-Wynn: Miller", claiming that the punctuation marks are
Canadian judge John D. Rooke, who compiled various examples of pseudolaw in his 2012 Meads v. Meads decision, commented that Miller's "bizarre form of "legal grammar"" is "not merely incomprehensible in Canada, but equally so in any other jurisdiction" and that reading documents written in Miller's language may give the impression that their author is "suffering from mental or cognitive disturbance".[22]
Donald J. Netolitzky, writing for the Alberta Law Review, commented that "Documents written in "Millerese" are a challenge to interpret" and that "video recordings of Miller's seminars defy both description and credulity".[20] David J. Peterson, a language creator, observed that Miller's ideas demonstrate "confusion about the nature of language in general... and of the English language specifically", notably because there is no such thing as "context-independent meaning — in life or in language".[1]
Other views
Miller has used and may have originated a scheme found in
Miller claimed that he had a billion followers[1] and that Bill Clinton and the entire Supreme Court of the United States were his students.[13][23] He also claimed to have "turned Hawaii into a verb", thus becoming "King of Hawaii". Like many sovereign citizens, Miller asserted that the world is secretly governed by maritime law; his own explanation for this situation was that "Earth is a vessel in a sea of space".[13]
Besides his pseudolegal ideas, Miller was a proponent of the 2012 phenomenon[24] and also adhered to a wide variety of conspiracy theories, some related to 9/11.[13][23] He claimed that Mastercard gained control of the US economy on September 17, 1999 and that the steel beams and all the plastic items in the World Trade Center buildings were plastic explosives which created an electromagnetic pulse as a coverup for a $12 trillion electronic heist committed during 9/11.[13] Through his website, Miller advocated the use of alternative "health products" and promoted theories regarding chemtrails or UFOs, as well as vaccine misinformation.[8]
Activism
Besides promoting his language, Miller was active as the leader of a group of tax protesters. He and his followers espoused the views that income taxes were illegitimate and that the United States' federal courts did not have jurisdiction over them because they were sovereign unto themselves. While their views were not distinguishable from those of other sovereign citizen groups, the use of Miller's language made them stand apart.[25]
The Los Angeles Times called Miller a "far-right activist".[26] The Anti-Defamation League described Miller in an article on the Redemption movement: "This Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based sovereign citizen is one of the most unusual of the 'common law gurus' who travel the country holding seminars and offering legal advice. Miller has created his own unique version of English grammar, one that even many sovereign citizens find hard to understand or accept."[27]
Despite the unusual nature of his theories, Miller became popular as a "guru" within the sovereign citizen movement, which he helped expand to other English-speaking countries.[14] Besides the United States, Miller was active in Canada, and later in Australia, New Zealand[12] and the United Kingdom,[28] where he would disrupt court proceedings, file unintelligible documents, and host paid seminars where he would explain his theories and advertise the use of his language.[12] He also called himself a "Plenipotentiary-Judge" of the "Unity States of the World".[10] Lawyer Colin McRoberts finds Miller's linguistic experiment remarkable by the fact that he could find followers despite the strangeness of his theories and their consistent failure in court, and considers him a good example of a pseudolaw litigant and guru whose ideas "flout consensus reality" : "as baffling, incomprehensible, and plainly false as his theories are, he sold them. His customers paid to take seminars on how to use proper "quantum" phrasing in court. He and his followers relied on his strategies to the detriment of all involved—including Miller himself."[4]
Various defendants attempted to use Miller's language or ideas in courts. Not being a licensed lawyer, Miller would file complaints on behalf of his clients with himself as a co-plaintiff, or appear in court as an "agent" or as a McKenzie friend. There is no evidence that the use of his language has ever been helpful in legal proceedings.[4][10] In 2010, the Southern Poverty Law Center noted that Miller was one of the few sovereign citizen "gurus" who had "clients in four different countries currently serving prison sentences".[10] Courts would typically dismiss Miller's documents as "completely unintelligible"[29] or "incomprehensible"[30][16] and sometimes declare him a vexatious litigant.[31]
In 2001 he was banned from entry into Canada for two years after a number of judges had jailed people for contempt of court after they had attempted to use his "truth language" to defend tax evasion charges. In 2011, an Australian barrister, who had been paid by his clients to attend one of Miller's seminars, described Miller's teachings as "the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life."[12]
On December 21, 2012 (the predicted end of the world according to the Mayan prophecy), Miller and some of his associates created a "Federal Postal court" (styled "US :FEDERAL-POSTALCOURT"), with Miller as Judge, and used it to release default "judgements".[20] Miller claimed that his "court" (which is unrelated to the civil court operated by the United States Postal Service) had been originally opened in 1775 by Benjamin Franklin, but closed a year later with the onset of the Revolutionary War. Miller therefore purported that he had reopened Franklin's court.[11] This "court" had no courthouse or fixed location, but Miller claimed that it had transitory jurisdiction with a presence wherever the federal postal eagle symbol may be.[32]
In 2016, Miller's "Federal Postal court" issued a $11.5 million dollar judgement against the mortgage service company
Selected cases
In 1998 Miller assisted
In June 1998
In August 2001, Paul and Myrna Schuck unsuccessfully used Miller's language during a
In October 2001, Andrew William Sereda, a
In September 2002, Miller was profiled when Milwaukee-based accountant Steven Allen Magritz was jailed after engaging in what authorities called "paper terrorism", or filing large numbers of legal claims against perceived enemies, as part of the sovereign citizen anti-government movement. The article calls Miller "the movement's linguist" and outlines his belief that people don't need to pay taxes if they can "prove that money is a verb".[37] Magritz was convicted in 2003 on seven counts of criminal slander of title and sentenced to five years in prison.[38]
In December 2002, Wisconsin juries convicted
In 2005,
In 2006, Hemet, California physician Jerome Mueller was jailed for tax evasion: "Part of a loose-knit group calling themselves 'freemen' and 'patriots,' Mueller is an adherent of 'truth language.' Developed by self-professed genius David Wynn Miller, of Milwaukee, truth language is based on mathematics and purports to be the only correct way of interpreting English. (...) The U.S. government, however, contends in everyday English that Mueller owes income taxes back to 1993."[43]
In 2008,
In 2012, imprisoned sovereign citizen and tax protester leader David Russell Myrland enlisted Miller's help to file a lawsuit against the federal government over its improper use of grammar. The lawsuit, which stated "For the 'why' of the sheriff's-statement-writings and: United States Attorney's-statements-writing are with a second-grade-reading-level and: writing-level and: vacating-facts, opinions, guessing, modifications, viod [sic]-factual-syntax-grammar word-meanings by the vassalees against the collusion-conspiracy with the handycapping [sic]-parse-syntax-grammar-communication-pleadings and: babbling-collusions-threats against the David-Russell: Myrland by the vassalees.", was unsuccessful.[47]
In 2016, two Southampton parents, whose newborn child had been removed from their custody due to healthcare concerns and the father being a Master Mineral Solution salesman, chose to dispense with legal representation in the United Kingdom and consulted with Miller. Largely due to the parents' lack of cooperation with authorities, the baby was placed for adoption.[28]
Jared Lee Loughner case
Some reports published after the
Associates and legacy
One of Miller's associates, Leighton Ward, who worked as "clerk" of the "Federal Postal court",
In August 2017, after Miller suffered a heart attack,[20] one of his longtime collaborators,[56] Russell Jay Gould, published a video in which he purported to "court martial" Miller and to remove his authority as a "judge". The website of Miller's "Federal Postal court" later went offline.[20] Gould has since continued using the "Quantum Grammar" created by Miller, taking part in judicial proceedings and claiming to be the "postmaster-general of the world"[57] or the "sovereign king" of the United States.[58]
Miller's language is used by various groups and individuals associated with the sovereign citizen[1][4] and freeman on the land[59] movements, including African-American "Moorish" activists.[14]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Hay, Mark (July 29, 2020), "American Fringes: The Bizarro English Used by Sovereign Citizens", OZY, archived from the original on July 28, 2020, retrieved July 28, 2020
- ^ "dwmlc". Retrieved January 3, 2021.
- ^ Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
- ^ SSRN 3400362, retrieved June 23, 2020
- ^ Kevin Murphy, "La Crosse dentist goes on trial for tax fraud". La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, Wisconsin), August 14, 2007.
- ^ a b c Hagan, Susan (October 14, 2001). "Canadian tax dodgers confuse courts". The Canadian Press. Archived from the original on August 23, 2017. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Prescott Daily Courier
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Stollznow, Karen (February 2, 2011), "Syntax Error", Skeptical Inquirer, retrieved June 19, 2020
- ^ Plastow, Killian (December 19, 2018), "Are taxes illegal? A look at the anti-tax sovereign citizen movement", The New Daily, retrieved June 19, 2020
- ^ a b c d e f g "The Sovereigns: Leaders of the Movement", Intelligence Report, Southern Poverty Law Center, August 1, 2010, retrieved June 21, 2020
- ^ a b c d e Debra Cassens Weiss (March 22, 2016), "Judge of bogus 'postal court' files judgments, claims only nouns have legal meaning", ABA Journal, retrieved June 19, 2020
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wallace, Natasha (January 15, 2011), "'Messiah-like figure' is doing own harvesting", Sydney Morning Herald, retrieved June 21, 2020
- ^ a b c d e f Potok, Mark (Spring 2003), "'Full Colon Miller'", Intelligence Report, Southern Poverty Law Center, retrieved December 1, 2009
- ^ a b c d Anti-Defamation league (2016), "The Sovereign Citizen Movement Common Documentary Identifiers & Examples" (PDF), adl.org, retrieved December 23, 2021
- ^ a b "Communication-Methods", dwmlc.net, David Wynn Miller, retrieved January 3, 2021
- ^ a b c "Borkholder v. PNC Bank, Nat'l Ass'n", casemine.com, August 8, 2012, retrieved December 23, 2021
- ^ a b c Barrows, Samuel (March 26, 2021), "Sovereigns, Freemen, and Desperate Souls: Towards a Rigorous Understanding of Pseudolitigation Tactics in United States Courts", Boston Law review, retrieved December 22, 2021
- ^ Lee, Calvin (March 2, 2022). "Sovereign citizens: sitting on the docket all day, wasting time". Minnesota Law Review. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
- ^ a b Shepherd, Chuck (January 9, 2003). "News of the Weird: The Truth won't set you free". Orlando Weekly. Archived from the original on March 6, 2012. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g Donald J. Netolitzky (July 16, 2018), "Organised Pseudolegal Commercial Arguments as magic and ceremony", Alberta Law Review, 55 (4): 1045–1088, retrieved December 22, 2021
- ^ a b c "Screw the Taxman: The Weird Ideas of Tax Cheaters". DigitalJournal.com. April 24, 2006. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
- ^ John D. Rooke (September 18, 2012). "Reasons for Decision of the Associate Chief Justice J. D. Rooke". canlii.org. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
- ^ a b Allen, Nick (January 10, 2011). Gabrielle Giffords shooting: Jared Loughner may have been influenced by occult. The Telegraph
- ^ Weigel, David (January 9, 2011), "David-Wynn: Miller", Slate, retrieved June 21, 2020
- ^ United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (2007), UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VS FREDERICK G. KRIEMELMEYER (PDF), retrieved December 24, 2021
- ^ Quinones, Sam and Scott Kraft (January 10, 2011). Jared Loughner charged in Tucson shooting rampage. Los Angeles Times
- ^ Anti-Defamation League (2005). Sovereign Citizen Movement. Archived January 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine via adl.com
- ^ a b Portsmouth Family Court (July 22, 2016), "A Child, Re [2016] EWFC B50", bailii.org, retrieved December 26, 2021
- ^ "Paet vs Hawaii", casemine.com, March 16, 2012, retrieved December 26, 2021
- ^ "United States vs Pflum", casemine.com, August 21, 2013, retrieved December 26, 2021
- ^ "Abalos et al v. Greenpoint Mortgage Funding, Inc. et al", justia.com, July 26, 2013, retrieved December 26, 2021
- ^ a b Jeffrey Alker Meyer (March 7, 2016), "PENNY-LEE: GILLY, Plaintiff, v. OCWEN, Defendant. No. 3:16-mc-0021", ecf.ctd.uscourts.gov, retrieved January 3, 2021
- ^ Evan Weinberger (May 31, 2018), "BofA Escapes $11.7M Judgment From 'King of Hawaii's' Court", Bloomberg News, retrieved July 5, 2022
- Waukegan News-Sun
- Waukegan News-Sun
- Prescott Daily Courier
- ^ Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
- Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
- ^ State of Wisconsin vs. Janice K Logan (Dane County Case Number 2002CF001110)
- ^ State of Wisconsin vs. Jason Zellmer (Dane County Case Number 2002CF001112)
- The Record (Bergen County)
- New Jersey On-Line
- The Press-Enterprise (California)
- ^ Sugimoto, Minna (November 21, 2008). Woman who tortured, starved children gets 5-year prison term. KGMB
- Honolulu Advertiser
- ^ "Child abuser sent to prison", Hawaii News Now, January 21, 2009, retrieved June 22, 2020
- ^ "'Sovereign Citizen' Sues Government Over Grammar", Southern Poverty Law Center, February 14, 2012, retrieved December 27, 2021
- ^ Johnson, Kirk; Kovaleski, Serge F.; Frosch, Dan; Lipton, Eric (January 9, 2011). Suspect's Odd Behavior Caused Growing Alarm. The New York Times
- Politico.com
- ^ Walker, Peter (January 10, 2010). Gabrielle Giffords shooting: Gunman linked to grammar 'judge.' The Guardian
- ^ Jared Lee Loughner's Mental State Newsweek, January 10, 2011
- ^ "The Sovereign Files: June 2017", Southern Poverty Law Center, June 14, 2017, retrieved December 22, 2021
- ^ Jim Seckler (July 17, 2018), "Havasu man with sovereign citizen link convicted of forgery", Mohave Valley Daily News, archived from the original on December 22, 2021, retrieved December 22, 2021
- ^ Jim Seckler (August 26, 2018), "Lake Havasu man disrupts court as he's sentenced to prison", Mohave Valley Daily News, archived from the original on February 1, 2022, retrieved December 22, 2021
- ^ Arizona court of appeals, "STATE v. WARD", law.justia.com, retrieved December 22, 2021
- ^ Miller, Mike (March 5, 2004). "Parents want to take jailed, 'brainwashed' son home". The Capital Times.
- ^ "R v Sweet[2021] QDC 216", queenslandjudgments.com.au, September 6, 2021, retrieved December 27, 2021
- ^ Cash, Glen (May 26, 2022). "A Kind of Magic: The Origins and Culture of 'Pseudolaw'" (PDF). Queensland Magistrates' State Conference 2022. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
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(help) - ^ Soutar, Liam (February 14, 2019), "'Freeman of the land' causes chaos in Wigan court", Wigan Post, retrieved December 27, 2021
External links
- :Judge: David-Wynn: Miller (Personal site)
- Dr. Fred Bell radio interview with David Wynn Miller on YouTube