Comments on: Shake Down Entertainment, Ltd. http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2008/07/shake_down_ente.html The Law, the Universe, and Everything Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:31:00 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.3 hourly 1 By: Scott D http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2008/07/shake_down_ente.html/comment-page-1#comment-48069 Scott D Mon, 04 Aug 2008 01:40:29 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2008/07/shake-down-entertainment-ltd.html#comment-48069 Thanks for expanding the scope of this quirky story. I like your concept "underlaw" and the links to examples. Drug-related conspiracy-making differs from most tax resisters as the concern is not <i> conceptual opposition to government but <i>resisting a specific action by government. In any case, I have a new rationale for why this conspiracy has taken hold. Could it be there is an inherent suspicion and backlash regarding Federal mandatory minimum sentencing or the experience of being told while in prison that your charges change, switching to harsher federal punishments. I am suggesting that certain types of underlaw spring forth from actual problems of law's legitimacy. Exploring conspiracy theories in law, then, is akin to anthropology analyzing what cultural myths reflect about the world-view of the society. </i></i> Thanks for expanding the scope of this quirky story.

I like your concept “underlaw” and the links to examples. Drug-related conspiracy-making differs from most tax resisters as the concern is not conceptual opposition to government but resisting a specific action by government.

In any case, I have a new rationale for why this conspiracy has taken hold. Could it be there is an inherent suspicion and backlash regarding Federal mandatory minimum sentencing or the experience of being told while in prison that your charges change, switching to harsher federal punishments.

I am suggesting that certain types of underlaw spring forth from actual problems of law’s legitimacy. Exploring conspiracy theories in law, then, is akin to anthropology analyzing what cultural myths reflect about the world-view of the society.

]]> By: Hauk http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2008/07/shake_down_ente.html/comment-page-1#comment-48068 Hauk Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:17:53 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2008/07/shake-down-entertainment-ltd.html#comment-48068 Apropos "underlaw," Jon Siegel has a webpage devoted to detailing and debunking all of the bizarre legal theories that tax protestors use to justify not paying taxes. It's available here: http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/jsiegel/Personal/taxes/IncomeTax.htm Some of it makes for pretty entertaining reading. On the same topic, as a law clerk, I encountered a pro se prisoner litigant who claimed that his conviction should be vacated because the criminal statutes under which he was convicted had no implementing regulations. Implementing regulations were not, of course, required, and the theory seemed pretty bizarre to me. My research, however, revealed this wasn't the first time someone had advanced the theory. Apropos “underlaw,” Jon Siegel has a webpage devoted to detailing and debunking all of the bizarre legal theories that tax protestors use to justify not paying taxes. It’s available here:

http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/jsiegel/Personal/taxes/IncomeTax.htm

Some of it makes for pretty entertaining reading.

On the same topic, as a law clerk, I encountered a pro se prisoner litigant who claimed that his conviction should be vacated because the criminal statutes under which he was convicted had no implementing regulations. Implementing regulations were not, of course, required, and the theory seemed pretty bizarre to me. My research, however, revealed this wasn’t the first time someone had advanced the theory.

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