Outlawed Book Launch - When Conspiracy Becomes Law: Pseudolaw, Freemen on the Land and the Crisis of Trust

Across the UK and around the world, people are turning to pseudolaw: a fast-growing movement of sovereign citizens, freemen on the land and constitutional warriors who reject state authority while using the language and rituals of law.

In this talk, Harry Hobbs and Stephen Young introduce Outlawed and take the audience inside a world of courtroom confrontations, online gurus, viral traffic stops and legal conspiracies.

The book traces pseudolaw from its nineteenth-century origins to its contemporary global reach, asking why these ideas appeal in an age of inequality, crisis and institutional distrust.

Although pseudolaw may be legally baseless, it reveals something important about the relationship between citizens and the institutions that govern them.

The global spread of pseudolaw indicates there is the need for a legal system people can understand, trust and use. How then should courts, lawyers and governments respond? Join us for a conversation and discussion.

This event is being organised in conjunction with the Knowledge, Power and Society Research Cluster in the Department of Sociology and Criminology.

Authors

Dr Harry Hobbs is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law and Justice at the University of New South Wales, and the Director of the Pseudolaw Project at the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law

Dr Stephen Young is an Associate Professor at the University of Otago’s Faculty of Law (Te Kaupeka Tātai Ture, Otākou Whakaihu Waka)