Starting a Court Case

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Read this page carefully, as it is important you prepare your case in your own words. 

Why would you start a court case?

If anyone has harmed you or your family in any way, or if you have seen someone break the law, you have grounds for starting a court case.Before you do, you should think very carefully about why you want to summon someone to court. You need a serious reason for charging anyone with a crime. And you need to know exactly what laws have been broken. Remember that the law is a double-edged sword. If you start a frivolous case against someone, they can turn the law back on you and haul you into court instead. Courts do not take kindly to anyone wasting their time. It costs a lot of time, effort and money to convene a court. There are many people involved, from the Adjudicator, the 12-man jury (plus substitutes), the court recorder, the Sheriffs and Bailiffs, and any witnesses. 

Getting started

To start a case, you need to submit a Statement of Claim to your local common law assembly court registrar. Only a common law assembly may elect and convene a common law court. A Statement of Claim is a brief statement saying why you wish to summon one or more people to court. A Statement of Claim states what your grievance is, who you are accusing, and what remedy you want. Your claim must name those you are accusing, state their residential address (or business address if residential is unknown), and it must state in plain language what harm they have done to you. Do not go into detail about the case. You only need to present the simple facts so that the court registrar can decide whether you have a valid case to bring before the court.

These are some, but certainly not all, of the categories of complaint a common law court can hear, but don’t be limited by this list. If you have a legitimate complaint against anyone you can prepare a Statement of Claim for consideration by a Common Law Court:

1. The government’s degradation of First Nations people living standards – you must name only living people who have caused you personal harm. A court cannot seek restitution from the dead.
2. The government has denied your basic right to freedom of religion – remember, you can only bring living men and women into a common law court, so don’t name a government department…. name the people in the department who have caused you harm.
3. Unlawful bank repossessions of people’s homes, land and other property, as well as other banking crimes. Who ordered and carried out the siezure? Name all involved, including the bank employees and anyone they employed to sieze your property, including police.
4. Unlawful local councils pretending to be a 3rd tier of government in direct contravention of the 1988 and 1999 Referendums of the people that denied them any status as government. These councils are guilty of many crimes against the people, including
   • House/land repossessions for non-payment of Rates Demands
   • Unlawful arrest and incarceration, or property siezures for non-payment of fines

Before you start writing your claim

The following tips will guide you:

•  Your claim should be no more than ONE or TWO pages. Keep it brief and to the point.
• Name the people who have caused you harm. You can only bring people into a common law court. Make sure you include their full name (if possible) and where the court can issue summons and documents to them; either at their place of work or their home.
• Gather as much evidence as possible to present to the jury. The more evidence you can show the better your chances of getting a positive result. Remember, a jury need to hear only facts. You can only tell them what you saw and did. You cannot repeat what others told you unless you can call them to the stand to present their own statement of facts they saw or did. Nor can you say what you think. Thoughts are not valid evidence.
• State what remedy is sought in your Claim. When presenting your evidence to the jury make sure you state what remedy you are seeking so that they can make a decision based on that. There is no limit to the monetary or propery restitution you may seek, but keep in mind that a jury will consider your claim as they consider their verdict.
• You must be very clear in your intentions. Be precise, clear, and truthful at all times as you write your Statement of Claim, and when presenting your evidence to a jury. If you cannot prove any statement, either in your Statement of Claim or during the trial, you will lose your case.
• You can only present evidence yourself about harm caused to you. You cannot make a claim on anyone else’s behalf.

Keep it short, simple, and clear. You will have plenty of time to present your evidence when you get into court. When you have written it, print it out, and do an autograph in blue.  Add a right hand thumbprint in red. 

What if you cannot travel, or if the accused does not live in your community?

• Common Law Courts convene in the community where the Claimant lives. If you are summoned to appear in court and you cannot travel, you can apply to the common law court to set up a Zoom call. You must give your testimony in person, or by video call.
• If you are summoned as a witness, you may submit an affidavit to the court registrar to enter into the record beforehand, and if you cannot appear in person the Claimant may read out your witness statement to the court.

Who can sign a Claim, and does my Claim need to be witnessed?

Only people who have Emancipated may submit a Statement of Claim to a common law court to ask for a hearing. If the court Adjudicator and Registrar decide you have not presented a claim that can be heard in a court they may advise you what else you need to do to prepare your claim for a hearing.

A claim is your statement of facts you wish to present to a court. You do not need a witness to sign.

When submitting an affidavit to a court, it must be witnessed by at least a Justice of the Peace or Notary Public. If one is not available, you must get it signed by at least three people who have known you for at least twelve months. These witnesses may be called to testify in court that they know you.

What happens to your Statement after you submit it?

All Statements of Claim submitted to the Common Law Court will be held in strict confidence by the Common Law Court Registrar until such time as a court is ready to convene.

The court members must follow a set of steps that can take months before a court can sit to hear your testimony. 

This flow chart gives you a brief representation of the steps involved in bringing a Claim to court:

The following tips will help you write your Statement of Claim:

•  Your claim should be no more than ONE page
• State BRIEFLY the issue
• Name the people who have caused you harm. You can only bring people into a common law court. You cannot bring an organization into a common law court, unless it has been deemed by law to be an entity, and even then you must hold those who run the organization accountable as representatives of that entity.  
• Make sure you include the full name (if possible) of the person you want to summon to court, and where the court can issue summons and documents to them; either at their place of work or their home.
• Gather as much evidence as possible to present to the jury. The more evidence you can show the better your chances of getting a positive result. Remember, a jury need to hear only facts. You can only tell them what you saw and did. You cannot repeat what others told you, nor can you say what you think. Thoughts are not valid evidence.
• State what remedy is sought in your Claim, and when presenting your evidence to the jury make sure you repeat what remedy you are seeking so that they can make a decision based on that.
• You must be very clear in your intentions. Be precise, clear, and truthful at all times as you write your Statement of Claim and when presenting your evidence to a jury.
• You can only present evidence yourself about harm caused to you. You cannot make a claim on anyone else’s behalf.

Keep it short, simple, and clear. You will have plenty of time to present your full body of evidence when you get into court. When you have written it, print it out, sign it, at the bottom on the right hand side of the page. You may add a thumbprint in red ink if you wish, and then save it as a PDF. Then file the Statement with the body of people appointed by your assembly tasked with convening common law courts.

These are some, but certainly not all, of the categories of complaint a common law court can hear, but don’t be limited by this list. If you have a legitimate complaint against anyone you can prepare a Statement of Claim for consideration by a Common Law Court:

1. The government’s degradation of First Nations people living standards – name those who have caused harm
2. The government denying our basic right to freedom of religion – remember, you can only bring living people into a common law court, so don’t name a government department…. name the people in the department who have caused you harm.
3. Unlawful bank repossessions of people’s homes, land and other property, as well as other banking crimes
4. District Municipalities.  
   • House/land repossessions for non-payment of Rates Demands
   • Unlawful arrest and incarceration for non-payment of fines
   • Unlawful fines for parking infringements, non payment of their taxation demands for Property Rates

Who can appear before a Common Law Court?

Anyone who has submitted a Statement of Claim describing the harm done by the people working for the corporate political party system and their departments, or banks, or people working in or representing other institutions can be summoned to a Common Law Court.

What if you cannot travel, or if the accused does not live in your community?

• The Common Law Courts will convene in the community where the Claimant lives. If you are summoned and you cannot travel, you can apply to the common law court to set up a Zoom call. You must give your testimony in person. You cannot do it by affidavit or hire a representative to appear for you.
• You must appear in person before a court to present your evidence to the 12 jurors. They are the ones who will make a judgement.

Who can sign a Statement of Claim, and does my Claim need to be witnessed?

Any member of the Commonwealth of South Africa can sign a Statement of Claim for a common law court to consider hearing. If the court Adjudicator and Registrar decide you have not presented a claim that can be heard in a court they will advise you what needs to be done to prepare your claim for a hearing.

A claim need not be signed by a witness. A claim is your statement of facts you wish to present to a court, and therefore only you need sign it. Witness signatures do not add any weight to a Statement of Claim.

What happens to your Statement after you submit it?

All Statements of Claim submitted to the Common Law Court will be held in strict confidence at the Common Law Court Adjudicator and Registrar until such time as a court is ready to convene. The court members must follow a set of steps that can take months before a court can sit to hear your testimony.

The Steps

The first thing you must always do is to create a record of evidence. Make sure you record everything before, during and after a court case in their system, or a problem with a state agency or bank, no matter what the conversation is about. Always keep calm and deal in the facts when talking to those seeking to harm you. Everything your record can be used in a common law court. You want that evidence to be based on facts, and most importantly, you want it to be compelling evidence against those seeking to harm you.Keep a record of all correspondence. Register all mail so that they must sign for it. That way, you have a confirmed paper trail you can present to the court. When you have sufficient evidence, then it is your turn to strike back and seek redress and compensation for the harm you have suffered. Follow these steps:

1. Issue a Public Notice of Claim of Right — Also called a Statement of Claim:
2. File your claim with the Court Registrar.
3. Once your claim has been accepted by the Registrar and a court date has been assigned, you must serve the summons on those named in your claim. You can do this in person, or you can hire a Process Server. A Notice of Service must accompany your post copies of your Claim on public notice boards, on the internet, and anywhere else you can publicly display it. This establishes your call to your fellow men and women to meet and convene a People’s Court. Make sure you include a date and time for them to attend the court. 
4. You can hold a public meeting or a common law court anywhere; in public halls (never in government buildings though). If you can convene in a private property, that is always advisable, as it stops government agents trespassing.
5. After the court registrar announces to the court staff and the prosecutor that everything is ready to convene a court, he will select 12 jurors from the community. He may choose from the assembly members, but if not he may select people at random and summon them to sit on the jury. Once chosen, a juror may not decline except under exceptional circumstances, such as illness, incarceration in jail, or mental impairment.
6. The court adjudicator’s job is to keep the court under control, to ensure the proceedings are moving forward, and he/she may even ask questions if the plaintiff (also called a Claimant) or defendant are not providing information needed for the jury to make a decision. A Court Adjudicator should have some knowledge of the law, such as a JP or Notary Public. However, this is not a requirement, and anyone may be chosen as an Adjudicator.
7. A Claimant (also called the Prosecutor): Only you can present your case to the jury. There are no lawyers representing either the plaintiff or the accused in a common law court. 
8. A Defendant: Only the person summoned to answer a Claim can defend the charges against them. They may have an advisor to sit with them and answer questions, but the advisor may not speak directly to the court or jury.
9. The jury has a duty to gather all the facts of a case so that they can make an informed and just decision. Once the claimant and the defendant have presented their evidence the Adjudicator will ask the jury to retire to the Jury Room where they will discuss the facts and make a decision. If they have more questions while they are deliberating, they can return to the court with their questions and then return to the jury room to continue their deliberations. The jury’s decision, after hearing the evidence, must be unanimous. If, after hearing all the evidence, a jury cannot agree, they must return to the court, tell the adjudicator that they cannot agree, and the adjudicator will declare the case dismissed and the accused must walk free. There is no appeal to a jury’s decision. However, if a plaintiff finds new evidence after a case has already been closed, they may present a new Statement of Claim for consideration.
10. The common law assembly may choose a Court Sheriff, either elected from the community or delegated from among existing peace officers already elected by the common law assembly. 
11. A Sheriff carries out the verdict of the court, and can deputize anyone, including local police, to assist him. A Sheriff has all the power of the community behind him to uphold the peace. The Sheriff also serves summons, and may arrest anyone who has committed a crime. The Sheriff may also be directed by the jury to seize the property of the convicted to be sold to compensate a victim. In addition, the Sheriff can arrest anyone convicted by the court and escort them to jail, or carry out any other directions of the court. The Sheriff is only limited in his powers by the common law assembly or court. 
12. The Bailiffs, a Court Registrar and a Court Reporter are all chosen from among the community. Anyone may volunteer for these positions. However, the community should choose them according to their abilities.

When all that is done, you are ready to start your court case.

When submitting a Statement of Claim to a common law court, you should also publish a public notice to inform those you are bringing a case against that you are summoning them to court.A public notice of claim of right may be made public by printing out and posting it on a public notice board, or by publishing it in a publicly read magazine or newspaper, or by posting it on a website or social media where it can be seen by the public.

(Note: Copy/Past the text below into a word processor and fill in the blanks)

Claim of Right made under Common Law 

Issued by _____[name]_________ on __[date]__ in the community of _____[community name]___________I, ___[name]_____ , give public notice of my personal claim of right and of lawful excuse to convene and establish a common law court under my liberty as a flesh and blood man or woman; and I do hereby call upon the support of all competent men and women to assist me in this lawful right.

I further give public notice of my personal claim of right and of lawful excuse of twelve men or women, to judge a matter affecting the well being, rights and safety of myself and my community, that matter being the following: (Description of issue, statement of claim and parties in the claim)

I further give public notice that this jury of my peers has the jurisdictional competence to judge this matter and issue a sentence and verdict within the said common law court based upon proven and lawful evidence presented within its court.

I hereby publicly call upon and request the support of my community to establish this common law court and its jury of twelve men or women, to be sworn to act in such a capacity for the duration of the court proceedings, according to Natural Law and the rules of evidence and due process. I make this public claim of right freely, without coercion or ulterior motive, in the interest of justice and the public welfare.

Witness…………………………………………………….                                                                             Claimant…………………………………………………….

                                                                                                                                                        Date: