Concept
The sovereign citizen movement (also SovCit movement or SovCits) is a loose grouping of litigants, anti-government activists, tax protesters, financial scheme promoters, and conspiracy theorists who adhere to pseudolegal concepts. Sovereign citizens claim to be answerable only to their particular interpretations of the common law and believe that they are therefore not subject to any government statutes or proceedings, unless they consent to them. The movement, which appeared in the early 1970s, is American in origin and exists primarily in the United States, though it has expanded to other countries: the freeman on the land movement, an offshoot of the sovereign citizen movement with similar doctrines, emerged during the 2000s in Canada before spreading to other Commonwealth countries. In the United States the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) describes sovereign citizens as "anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or 'sovereign' from the United States". The sovereign citizen phenomenon is one of the main contemporary sources of pseudolaw: adherents to its ideology believe that courts have no jurisdiction over people and that the use of certain procedures (such as writing specific phrases on bills they do not want to pay) and loopholes can make one immune from government laws and regulations. They also regard most forms of taxation as illegitimate and reject the use of such things as Social Security numbers, driver's licenses, and vehicle registration. Sovereign citizen arguments have no basis in law and have never been successful in court. The movement may appeal to people facing financial or legal difficulties, or wishing to resist perceived government oppression, and looking for a mechanism that will solve their problems. As a result, it has grown significantly during times of economic or social crisis. Most schemes promoted by sovereign citizens involve means to avoid taxes, ignore laws, eliminate debts, or extract money from the government.
