Sovereign citizen defence 'mumbo jumbo' and abuse of court process, judge rules

Legal action by a 'sovereign citizen' amounted to an abuse of process, a judge has ruled. Photo / NZME

Legal action ventured by a truck driver who identifies himself as a "sovereign citizen" not subject to New Zealand laws has been thrown out by a judge as being filled with "mumbo jumbo" and amounting to an abuse of process.

A case against police and the Ministry of Justice was attempted at the High Court in Wellington by Scott William Larsen who also goes by :scott-williams.

The Herald has previously reported on Larsen as claiming to be of the "House of Larsen", a so-called "governor" of self-proclaimed sovereign, Ariki Nui o Tuhoe Government.

He has claimed that, as a "living man", he, and his supporters, are not subject to the laws of New Zealand or Acts of the Crown.

In February this year, Larsen was seen driving towards Remutaka Hill in a logging truck which had no registration plates and was in poor condition.

Officers stopped Larsen, asked him to get out, and provide his details.

He refused, saying he did not have to provide them.

A police check confirmed the driver as Scott William Larsen, a forbidden driver with an outstanding fines warrant.

However, Larsen still refused to get out of the truck's cab or unlock the door. He said he did not accept the jurisdiction of the police officers to arrest him.

Through a slightly open driver's window, the officers used tactical spray which prompted Larsen to get out of the cab.

He was arrested and his truck seized and impounded.

"Because of the confused nature of the statement of claim, it is not possible to discern exactly what happened next but it seems that the plaintiff was convicted and fined, and his truck was sold to pay the fines," says Justice Peter Churchman in a new judgment which followed Larsen's statement of claim against "The New Zealand Police Company", "Andrew Costner" [sic], "New Zealand Justice Company", and Andrew Kibblewhite, chief executive of the Ministry of Justice.

In his claim, Larsen contended that neither the police nor the justice system have any authority over him and categorised their actions in apprehending and prosecuting him as amounting to "fraud, slavery, malfeasance of public office [sic] and deception".

But Justice Churchman rejected Larsen's statement of claim, saying it was "full of pseudo-legal mumbo jumbo that is characteristic of the 'sovereign citizen' school of thought".

"The courts have consistently held that it is an abuse of process for a litigant to attempt to employ sovereign citizen concepts in seeking to avoid or defeat any State, regulatory, contract, family or other obligations recognised by law," the judge said.

"Consistently with the other cases where the sovereign citizen theory has been invoked to attempt to escape the jurisdiction of the court, I hold that these proceedings are plainly an abuse of the process of the court, and strike them out."