Black's Law Dictionary is a Hoax and there is no such thing as "capitus diminutio", page 1

Why Black's Law Dictionary is a Hoax

I have bee doing a lot of research into the whole capitus diminutio maxima thing. Supposedly what capitus diminutio maxima means is that your name appearing in all capitol letters (JOHN DOE) on any legal documents are not actually representing you, but are representing a corporate entity of you. This means you have surrendered your rights and have gone from freedom to bondage. Sounds fishy to me.

Now the reason I was looking into this was because I had to appear in court last week, and naturally, if this was true, I would want to take full advantage of it. So I met my lawyer in court, a man named Gary Porter, and asked him about capitus diminutio and explained to him what it was. He told me that he'd never heard of it before and that it was absolute baloney. Now this lawyer is not just some court appointed BS lawyer...he is very expensive and good at what he does, so I give him some credibilty. That's when I started thinking and wanted to do some more research on my own.

So I looked it up online and found mostly conspiracy websites that contained the info, but I wanted to find sources outside of conspiracy sites. So I found this on Yahoo Answers:

Answer: I'm a lawyer and I am not familiar with the term. According to one site I read it is a term referenced in Black's Law Dictionary but no online legal dictionaries I checked had the term. The word capitis in Latin has to do with the head, not with capital letters.

The US Constitution is the supreme law of the country (see Marbury v. Madison) and contains nothing about this alleged doctrine. However, it does abolish slavery (14th Amendment). As such, there's no legal support for this alleged doctrine. The Admiralty Courts (which some sites claim are the way this doctrine is invoked) are inferior courts to the Supreme Court and the lower federal circuit courts. (See Article III of the Constitution).

This doctrine did exist in Roman Law (www.newadvent.org...) but had nothing to do with capital letters at all. That's just invention by people with too much paranoia and time on their hands.

Source: Yahoo Answers

Hmmm...seems to me that this backs what my lawyer was saying also. And after reading this, I decided to do a little more digging to find out about Black's Law Dictionary because that is where this lawyer said is the only place he's heard of it being published, and I'd never heard of Black's Dictionary before.

So after some more searching I found this:

Montreal, PQ (Reuters) - Sarah Medhurst (nee Black) shocked journalists and legal scholars at a press conference held at the Black family estate Monday when she revealed that Black's Law Dictionary, a highly regarded legal reference text, was originally written as a joke by her eccentric great grandfather Henry Campbell Black.

Medhurst appeared unapologetic, suggesting that the Black family had never tried very hard to keep it a secret. "Have any of you actually taken the time to read it?” she asked, flipping open the renowned text.& nbsp; “Look at page 840 for instance. 'John-a-Nokes'? Or how about page 347? 'Correality – the quality or state of being correal." She then cast a challenging look around the room...

You can read the full article here: 100777.com... and here: practicesource.com...

So what does all of this mean?

This my friend, means two things.

1. That capitus diminutio is not real and holds no legal bearing and

2. That Black's Law Dictionary is a hoax and opens up an entirely new can of worms having to do with the fact that it is cited in countless legal situations because:

Black's Law Dictionary is the most widely-used law dictionary for the law of the United States. It was founded by Henry Campbell Black. It has been cited as legal authority in many Supreme Court cases (see Secondary authority). The latest editions, including abridged and pocket versions, are useful starting points for the layman or student when faced with an unfamiliar legal word. It is the reference of choice for definitions in legal briefs and court opinions...

From Wikipedia.

Does anyone realize the magnitude of this screw up?

[edit on 6/15/2008 by Mad_Hatter]

John-a-nokes seems to be nothing more than an earlier version of John Doe, which is used in law all the time.
everything2.com...

Correality seems to be a perfectly legitimate term as well.

www.worldcat.org...

From my years spent in club Fed, (don’t ask) I know that Black’s has been somewhat under attack by the powers that be, apparently in an attempt to change some meanings and hide legal truths. Most law schools haven’t used Black’s for decades now. I have to wonder if the keepers of Black’s estate today aren’t joining in on the decades long battle to change the reality of law as it’s practiced. I’m not a lawyer, nor did I play one in prison. Just my 02.

I'm certain you're right about capitis diminuto (please note correct spelling). More information than anyone really needs about the Roman institution of that name here.

However, about Black's Law Dictionary being a hoax: a search on the Reuters site doesn't turn up any such story. Maybe it's been cached, or whatever? Did you try to find it?

This link contains some information on the compilation of Black's Law Dictionary:
Henry Campbell Black

And more on the editing of the 8th edition of the dictionary:
Guide to Black's Law Dictionary (8th ed.)

I have found no evidence that the Black family are actually involved in the editing of the dictionary, as the article linked by Mad Hatter would suggest. I also did research on the name of the woman in the article... Sarah something-hurst, which escapes me at this precise second. I can't find anything tying anyone with that name to anything having to do with Henry Campbell Black or the dictionary, except for references to that same article. And other references to that same article never even showed that it was from Reuters. That may have been added somewhere along the way to make the story seem more credible.

reply to post by Mad_Hatter

---

I thought about going and dragging that book out earlier, but it's just so damn heavy, I was hoping that someone else who had one would post! Happy to oblige, though!

The following definitions are from Black's Law Dictionary, 8th edition. Published by Thomson-West, and edited by Bryan A. Garner (editor-in-chief):

Capitis deminutio (from Roman law) A diminution or alteration of a person's legal status -- Also spelled capitis diminutio.

Capitis Deminutio Maxima (from Roman law) The diminution of a person's legal status as a result of being reduced to slavery.

Capitis deminutio minima (from Roman law) The diminution of a person's legal status involving a change of family, while both citizenship and freedom were retained.

Capitis deminutio minor (from Roman law) The diminution of a person's legal status involving a loss of citizenship but not of freedom. Under the Empire, banishment for life to an island or other restricted area had this effect. Also termed capitis deminutio media.

So, basically, you had the definition somewhat correct, however the application was incorrect. It is no longer used at all, and is an ancient legal term used during time of the Roman Empire. And I promise you that there is no special meaning behind use of all caps on pleadings, unless it is for emphasis!

Also, in the preface to the dictionary, a large number of attorneys and legal scholars who helped edit the edition are thanked. The number is too great to retype here, as it would take forever, but nowhere did I see the name of that lady from the article, nor anyone with the last name "Black."

The preface also gives examples of some of the new terms added to this edition. They are all legitimate, and include terms such as "cyberstalking," "viatical settlement," "parental kidnapping" and "reproductive rights."

I won't put it up yet, in case anyone else has questions tonight. Hope that helps some!

[edit on 15-6-2008 by TheHypnoToad]

It's an ancient law. Is this what nwo hopes to base new laws on when they attempt to squash the constitution? All the references to ancient things, such as gods of antiquity. Even when I was wondering if there was anything to this, I was thinking about the 2000 word essay I had to write on the Nurmemburg trials. The main point was that the germans had detailed their crimes against humanity in mountains of legal documents (pseudo-laws) and that once it was determined what was considered a crime, in the trials they only had to prove the identity of the signatures on the documents. So even if the PTB stop hiding and step out to hijack this country, their pseudo laws will eventually be crimes against humanity.

Also I found this in regard to color of law: The Supreme Court has interpreted the United States Constitution to construct laws regulating the actions of the law enforcement community. Under 'color of law', it is a crime for one or more persons using power given to him or her by a governmental agency (local, state or federal), to willfully deprive or conspire to deprive another person of any right protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.

en.wikipedia.org...(law)

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