Names in Caps? Stop it. Just Stop it. Really. You Make ATS Look Like a Nut House.

Dear ATSers,

There has been a resurgence of threads and posts claiming that, for legal purposes, you are a different person depending on how your name is capitalized. This "fact" can get you out of paying taxes, answering court summons, and will make you independent of all laws. This "news" pops up here every three to six months, and I guess it's time again.

The claim is that if your name is in all capital letters, you either lose your rights or are an entirely different person. You will see the Latin phrase "Capitas deminutio (minima, media, or maxima)" translated to mean "having your rights diminished (a little, some, or completely) by capitalization." Excuse me for a moment while I pound the wall. Ok, I'm better, let's look at it.

First, the translation is wrong.

"Capitis deminutio is the destruction of the 'caput' or legal personality. Capitis deminutio, so to speak, wipes out the former individual and puts a new one in his place, and between the old and the new individual there is, legally speaking, nothing in common.

A juristic personality may be thus destroyed in one of three ways: (1) by loss of the status libertatis. This is the capitis deminutio maxima; (2) by loss of the status civitatis. This is the capitis deminutio media (magna); (3) by severance from the agnatic family. This entails capitis deminutio minima."

Rudolph Sohm, The Institutes: A Textbook of the History and System of Roman Private Law 178-79 (James Crawford Ledlie trans. , 3d ed. 1907) [quoted in Black's Law Dictionary, 7th ed.]

Basically these are three levels of punishment inflicted on the law breaker and has nothing to do with capital letters.

But how can you be so sure, Charles? Because the Romans didn't have lower case letters combined with capitals until the 8th Century.

In the Antiquity the small letter (minuscule) did not exist, but there were several varieties of the capital and the cursive scripts. There were three varieties of the capitals:
• the lapidary capitals, used mainly on stone monuments;
• the elegant book capitals, that were of a more rounded shape;
• and the rustic capitals, which were less carefully elaborated than the lapidary script and not as round as the book capitals but more easily and quickly written. . . .At the end of the 8th century the Carolingian (Caroline) hand developed and, after becoming the official script and literary hand of the Frankish Empire, developed as the main book hand of Western Europe in the following two centuries. The combination of the capital and small letters is attributed mainly to the Carolingian script.

www.orbilat.com...
And in a definition of "capital letter" we find:

Definition:
The form of an alphabetical letter (such as A, B, C) used to begin a sentence or proper noun; an uppercase letter, in contrast to lower case. Verb: capitalize.

In classical Greek and Latin writing, only capital letters (also called majuscules) were used.

grammar.about.com...

Is that all you've got? No. Probably the most important argument is that it just doesn't work

1. Jaeger v. Dubuque County, 880 F.Supp. 640 (N.D.Iowa 1995)

2. United States v. Heard, 952 F.Supp. 329 (N.D.W.Va. 1996)

3. Boyce v. C.I.R., 72 T.C.M. ¶ 1996-439 ("an objection to the spelling of petitioners' names in capital letters because they are not 'fictitious entities'" was rejected)

4. United States v. Washington, 947 F.Supp. 87, 92 (S.D.N.Y. 1996)("Finally, the defendant contends that the Indictment must be dismissed because 'Kurt Washington,' spelled out in capital letters, is a fictitious name used by the Government to tax him improperly as a business, and that the correct spelling and presentation of his name is 'Kurt Washington.' This contention is baseless")

5. United States v. Klimek, 952 F.Supp. 1100 (E.D.Pa. 1997)

6. In re Gdowik, 228 B.R. 481, 482 (S.D.Fla. 1997)(claim that "the use of his name JOHN E GDOWIK is an 'illegal misnomer' and use of said name violates the right to his lawful status" was rejected)

7. Russell v. United States, 969 F.Supp. 24, 25 (W.D. Mich. 1997)("Petitioner * * * claims because his name is in all capital letters on the summons, he is not subject to the summons"; this argument held frivolous)

8. United States v. Lindbloom, 97-2 U.S.T.C. ¶ 50650 (W.D. Wash. 1997)("In this submission, Mr. Lindbloom states that he and his wife are not proper defendants to this action because their names are not spelled with all capital letters as indicated in the civil caption." The CAPS argument and the "refused for fraud" contention were rejected)

9. Rosenheck & Co., Inc. v. United States, 79 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 2715 (N.D. Ok. 1997)("Kostich has made the disingenuous argument the IRS documents at issue here fail to properly identify him as the taxpayer. Defendant Kostich contends his ‘Christian name' is Walter Edward, Kostich, Junior and since the IRS documents do not contain his ‘Christian name,' he is not the person named in the Notice of Levy. The Court expressly finds Defendant WALTER EDWARD KOSTICH JR. is the person identified in the Notice of Levy, irrespective of the commas, capitalization of letters, or other alleged irregularities Kostich identifies as improper. Similarly, the Court's finding applies to the filed pleadings in this matter")

10. United States v. Weatherley, 12 F.Supp.2d 469 (E.D.Pa. 1998)

11. United States v. Frech, 149 F.3d 1192 (10th Cir. 1998)("Defendants' assertion that the capitalization of their names in court documents constitutes constructive fraud, thereby depriving the district court of jurisdiction and venue, is without any basis in law or fact").

home.hiwaay.net...
These cases all reject the position that the capitalization or punctuation of a name has any legal effect. SO DON'T TRY IT. Better still, don't listen to anyone that tells you it does matter, unless they can show you court decisions that set aside these.

You'll hear people claim that it worked for their aunt, or that they've got rid of the IRS somehow, but don't believe any of it until you can see published evidence. All of those cited cases are from the last twenty years. Ignore someone who says "But look at this case, decided in 1813."

Certainly, people have a 1st Amendment right to say any darn fool thing they want. (Although, people who have sold this program went to jail for fraud, etc.) But, people also have a 5th Amendment right to keep their mouths shut and not look like idiots.

With respect,
Charles1952

Great thread to make and a point that needs said indeed!

You would think we'd all be above such nonsense too and the idea Uncle Sam would fall for it. Err.... he's a real poor loser when losing by being cheated. Vengeful old fart, actually! Beady evil little eyes and... err.. Oh, sorry.

You know, I then look back at the Nigerian Scams and realize they actually have an FBI agent dedicated to nothing but those. Err.. yeah, Pt Barnum was right, huh?

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

Dear Wrabbit2000,

I don't know, I kind of like beady, evil, eyes. It gives a guy character. A bad character, but better than none at all.

I have (had?) the impression that people here are skeptical, willing to research bold claims, and in search of truth. I'm surprised that this stuff keeps coming up before an appreciative audience. For some reason, this claim has just been an irritant to me for some time and I suppose I just couldn't take it anymore.

There's nothing wrong with having odd beliefs, disagreeing, or even being wrong, we all do it. But this?

I still have a little fire left, anything you want me to take a look at?

With respect,
Charles1952

reply to post by charles1952
Just to note that the IRS doesn't care HOW you spell your name- all lower case, all caps or any combination of the two. All they care about are the numbers- social security numbers, dollar amounts, number of dependents, etc. Anyone who believes otherwise is delusional.

Actually there is merit to the all caps....but that is not the basis of what people are trying to convey, that is just a small part of it and those that have tried to do something they know nothing about usually look like fools. It is more complex than just an all caps name, its about the Commercial Law system that we are forced to accept or consent to. It is about the government making us think we are debtors when in fact we are the creditors of this country and they use our credit to finance their wars and their fictional system based on fiat currency. If you play by their rules, you will lose but if you make them play by our rules then you will win.

The Government operates in fiction (corporation) and a living breathing man cannot engage in commerce with another fiction or vice versa, so a trust must be set up in the mans name which he then becomes the authorized representative of that trust. You are taxed and held liable for that trust (name in all caps) by consent whether directly or indirectly.

Im not going to go into detail because this reply would be too long to include all of the information but instead of citing some court preceding (which i am not saying isnt valid evidence) that show that people are just stupid and where i can show you just as many court records (when given time to fo through the mountain of info i have) of people getting out of paying taxes, traffic tickets and other legal fictions because they knew what they were doing. And btw, court records from 1813 are just as relevent today as they were then.

There are many things on ATS that can make it look like a nut house...but what makes one conspiracy more plausible than another...facts and knowledge! There is always 2 sides to the story and this always arguement for both.

Freeman takes over court in UK

freeman takes over court pt 2

America: Freedom to Fascism

Path to freedom

Originally posted by daynj1736
Actually there is merit to the all caps....but that is not the basis of what people are trying to convey,

There is a huge forest of falsehoods and misinterpretations that some people are trying to convey. This thread is about using capitaalization and punctuation in names to create a certain legal result. You say there is merit in it? I say there isn't, and so do the courts. Please provide your evidence that it makes a real life, legal difference.

As far as your video in a UK court, you did notice that they lost the case, didn't you? The court had to deal with a completely bizarre group of people. It was done peacefully, the courtroom returned to normalcy, and the "lay advisor" lost the case. That is not what I would pin my hopes on going against the system.

It's a losing argument in all American courts, and I wish people would just stop it. It's wrong and it's ignorant. But most of all, it doesn't work.

reply to post by charles1952


do you realise you just posted 'ATSers'

there was some caps lock going on there.