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Outlawed: Responding to the Global Rise of Sovereign Citizens and Legal Conspiracies
Outlawed explores one of the most dangerous and misunderstood movements of our the global rise of pseudolaw and sovereign citizen ideology.
Sharp, empathetic and unsettling, Outlawed asks a vital if so many people are turning to fake law in search of justice, what has gone wrong with the real thing?
Outlawed traces the hidden connective tissue between courtroom theatrics, viral traffic stop videos, fraudulent “common law” courts, and acts of deadly extremism. From unhappy New Zealand ratepayers to North American farm foreclosures to Australian pandemic protests, from German coup plots to suburban family courts, Outlawed reveals how legal conspiracy theories spread, mutate, and radicalise ordinary people.
Blending true crime, investigative reporting, legal analysis and cultural critique, Outlawed shows that pseudolaw is not fringe. It is a commodity sold by charismatic gurus. It is a performance staged for online audiences. And it is a symptom of a deeper collapsing trust in law, democracy and institutions.
The stories revealed are both bizarre and consequential. Pseudolaw has migrated from the fringes to the mainstream, spreading online alongside conspiracy theories, wellness grifts, and populist discontent. It must be understood to be stopped.
Sharp, empathetic and unsettling, Outlawed asks a vital if so many people are turning to fake law in search of justice, what has gone wrong with the real thing?
Outlawed traces the hidden connective tissue between courtroom theatrics, viral traffic stop videos, fraudulent “common law” courts, and acts of deadly extremism. From unhappy New Zealand ratepayers to North American farm foreclosures to Australian pandemic protests, from German coup plots to suburban family courts, Outlawed reveals how legal conspiracy theories spread, mutate, and radicalise ordinary people.
Blending true crime, investigative reporting, legal analysis and cultural critique, Outlawed shows that pseudolaw is not fringe. It is a commodity sold by charismatic gurus. It is a performance staged for online audiences. And it is a symptom of a deeper collapsing trust in law, democracy and institutions.
The stories revealed are both bizarre and consequential. Pseudolaw has migrated from the fringes to the mainstream, spreading online alongside conspiracy theories, wellness grifts, and populist discontent. It must be understood to be stopped.
- GenresNonfiction
Kindle Edition
Published August 18, 2026
About the author
Harry Hobbs
13 books4 followersHarry is a Lecturer in the UTS Faculty of Law. Harry teaches and researches in the fields of public law, the rights of Indigenous peoples, and international law, with a particular focus on Indigenous-State treaty making.
Harry has published over 30 academic papers in leading international and domestic journals. His scholarship has appeared in the International Journal of Constitutional Law, the Sydney Law Review, the University of Melbourne Law Review, the University of Toronto Law Journal, the Leiden Journal of International Law, and the Chicago Journal of International Law, among others. He is the author of Treaty (Federation Press, 2nd ed, 2020) (with George Williams), and Indigenous Aspirations and Structural Reform in Australia (Hart, forthcoming 2021).
Prior to joining UTS, Harry worked in the Parliamentary Joint Committee of Human Rights, the ACT Human Rights Commission, and as the Legal Research Officer at the High Court of Australia. He has a PhD from the University of New South Wales, a LLM (International Legal Studies) from New York University where he was awarded the Jerome Lipper Prize, and a BA/LLB (Honours) from the Australian National University.
Harry has published over 30 academic papers in leading international and domestic journals. His scholarship has appeared in the International Journal of Constitutional Law, the Sydney Law Review, the University of Melbourne Law Review, the University of Toronto Law Journal, the Leiden Journal of International Law, and the Chicago Journal of International Law, among others. He is the author of Treaty (Federation Press, 2nd ed, 2020) (with George Williams), and Indigenous Aspirations and Structural Reform in Australia (Hart, forthcoming 2021).
Prior to joining UTS, Harry worked in the Parliamentary Joint Committee of Human Rights, the ACT Human Rights Commission, and as the Legal Research Officer at the High Court of Australia. He has a PhD from the University of New South Wales, a LLM (International Legal Studies) from New York University where he was awarded the Jerome Lipper Prize, and a BA/LLB (Honours) from the Australian National University.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 29, 2026
This was an excellent explanation as to the structural reasons why people are increasingly turning to the sovereign citizen movement! I honestly wasn't expecting to understand, or even sympathise with those who fall down these rabbit-holes - like many people, I just assumed it was uneducated loonies/alt right freaks that the sovereign citizen movement appealed too, but I have come away with a greater appreciation for the things people will do when in desperate situations which includes turning too these movements.
Interestingly, most people fall into the legal conspiracy/sovereign citizen movement when caught up in unpaid taxes or traffic fines - especially now when people are already struggling to make ends meet, with a high cost of living and the rich getting away with much worse crimes, these movements appeal to people when there seems to be no other option. I completely understand how the structural inadequacies of our legal systems and the inability for the everyday person to even understand legal jargon leads people to create their own - again, these people see how corrupt the system is every day, of course they are going to turn to creating their own movement seemingly independent or unaccountable to the current system. Like much of the far-right, leaders in the sovereign citizen movement pray on peoples vulnerabilities (usually to make money by selling online courses) and lack of education.
The main thing I appreciate in this book is that they actually come to the table with solutions! And reasonable ones at that (although I suspect those in power won't like them because it involves actually making the rich both pay their taxes and stop paying their way out of a prison sentence). Requiring courts to use simple, easy to understand English rather than traditionally verbose and latin derived language, requiring courts to provide summaries of proceedings rather than requiring people to read the whole 30+ page document, providing free and readily available legal service, providing free education regarding our political, civil and legal systems! Actual real solutions that have been proven to help people! We love to see it!
Interestingly, most people fall into the legal conspiracy/sovereign citizen movement when caught up in unpaid taxes or traffic fines - especially now when people are already struggling to make ends meet, with a high cost of living and the rich getting away with much worse crimes, these movements appeal to people when there seems to be no other option. I completely understand how the structural inadequacies of our legal systems and the inability for the everyday person to even understand legal jargon leads people to create their own - again, these people see how corrupt the system is every day, of course they are going to turn to creating their own movement seemingly independent or unaccountable to the current system. Like much of the far-right, leaders in the sovereign citizen movement pray on peoples vulnerabilities (usually to make money by selling online courses) and lack of education.
The main thing I appreciate in this book is that they actually come to the table with solutions! And reasonable ones at that (although I suspect those in power won't like them because it involves actually making the rich both pay their taxes and stop paying their way out of a prison sentence). Requiring courts to use simple, easy to understand English rather than traditionally verbose and latin derived language, requiring courts to provide summaries of proceedings rather than requiring people to read the whole 30+ page document, providing free and readily available legal service, providing free education regarding our political, civil and legal systems! Actual real solutions that have been proven to help people! We love to see it!
September 30, 2026
started it out of curiosity, finished it with a renewed hatred of the wealthy and fresh perspective of my role in the system, eaaaasy 5 stars
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July 3, 2026If you think the currently accepted justice system has any validity in the eyes of God then you should be afraid. Nothing can prevent the Truth from being victorious.
September 4, 2026
Given my interest in the phenomenon of sovereign citizens and pseudo law, this book was an obvious choice. It certainly lived up to my expectations. I read it quite quickly although some passages are quite dense and require re reading and slower reading to make sense.
The writers are not the only academics to research the origins and causes of pseudo law but they do provide a good description of the origins of this movement and how the rise of computer assisted communication has enabled an American movement to spread globally.
With the benefit of a long memory, I would say, however, that pseudo law goes back much earlier. The term "bush lawyer" was well know sixty years ago when I and my peers challenged aspects of our high school programme, namely, School Cadets. Jocular stories about half educated men making fools of themselves in court rooms are much older still. The causes, however, are still able to be explained by Hobbs and Young's analysis. When I taught the topic of The Language of Law in schools, the examples really brought home to me how unnecessarily arcane and obscure is the language of the law while it was my experience of serving on juries which really convinced me the legal system was in George Bernard Shaw's terms "a conspiracy against the laity." The rules which only the courtroom staff understood were bizarre and simply unnecessary. Pseudo law, therefore is a response to this imposition on the public.
I felt Hobbs and Young could have compared pseudo law and some forms of religious belief. Both are promoted by eloquent and persuasive speakers working on gullible audiences. If you can believe that the earth was created on October 23 4004 BC then you probably also believe in the Straw Men.
Thinking of the straw man, reminds me how much I would have appreciated an index for the book so I could quickly go back and re read sections of the earlier chapters.
There was also the inconsistency. While most incidents of violence by sovereign citizens are fully described by names, dates and places, the incident at the Horowhenua District Council is described in general terms and I can not see why this is the case.
However, the final chapter is well worthwhile as Hobbs and Young offer an antidote or perhaps a cure for pseudo law. Up until now, my feeling was that the legal profession were a closed shop which looked out for its members over the public interest. Here is a full analysis of how the legal system works to frustrate and obstruct the public. How it works in the interest of the rich and powerful. I did not expect this but am delighted to see it.
The writers are not the only academics to research the origins and causes of pseudo law but they do provide a good description of the origins of this movement and how the rise of computer assisted communication has enabled an American movement to spread globally.
With the benefit of a long memory, I would say, however, that pseudo law goes back much earlier. The term "bush lawyer" was well know sixty years ago when I and my peers challenged aspects of our high school programme, namely, School Cadets. Jocular stories about half educated men making fools of themselves in court rooms are much older still. The causes, however, are still able to be explained by Hobbs and Young's analysis. When I taught the topic of The Language of Law in schools, the examples really brought home to me how unnecessarily arcane and obscure is the language of the law while it was my experience of serving on juries which really convinced me the legal system was in George Bernard Shaw's terms "a conspiracy against the laity." The rules which only the courtroom staff understood were bizarre and simply unnecessary. Pseudo law, therefore is a response to this imposition on the public.
I felt Hobbs and Young could have compared pseudo law and some forms of religious belief. Both are promoted by eloquent and persuasive speakers working on gullible audiences. If you can believe that the earth was created on October 23 4004 BC then you probably also believe in the Straw Men.
Thinking of the straw man, reminds me how much I would have appreciated an index for the book so I could quickly go back and re read sections of the earlier chapters.
There was also the inconsistency. While most incidents of violence by sovereign citizens are fully described by names, dates and places, the incident at the Horowhenua District Council is described in general terms and I can not see why this is the case.
However, the final chapter is well worthwhile as Hobbs and Young offer an antidote or perhaps a cure for pseudo law. Up until now, my feeling was that the legal profession were a closed shop which looked out for its members over the public interest. Here is a full analysis of how the legal system works to frustrate and obstruct the public. How it works in the interest of the rich and powerful. I did not expect this but am delighted to see it.
September 27, 2026
Brilliant. I think this is a very accessible overlook of the sovereign citizen movement and how it expanded beyond the United States.
I also broadly agree with the authors' thesis that the solution to a lot of the problems brought on by this will have to be professionals reaching people where they're at. I don't fully agree with their opinion that those body cam footage channels on YouTube are of limited utility for that, though. While at times they can be mean spirited and "copaganda"-adjacent (as much as I dislike that term), there is a certain utility to that. There are people who will be won over from that sort of ideology by seeing its practitioners mocked.
I don't think that style of online content is incompatiable with acknowledging the serious harms police have caused minority communities over the decades. It is possible to think that overpolicing of minority communities is a major issue in law enforcement and that sometimes the police are a necessary evil when dealing with sovereign citizens. I'm one of the people who thinks that. Besides, most of the examples of content like this that I personally have seen have involved white officers dealing with white, presumably straight sovereign citizens, not with members of ethnic or gender/sexual minorities.
Mostly I think this is one of those things where a variety of tactics is needed. Stuff like that can be done in a less jingoistic way where it's explained why a cop might approach a situation in a certain way, and how they might apply the law at a street level. As the authors acknowledge, there is a certain educational benefit to that. But that needs to be supplemented with the sort of approaches they've praised involving more community outreach type stuff involving lawyers and judges interacting with the public via social media etc.. It's a matter of different methods reaching different groups of people.
Like I said, I do broadly agree with where they're coming from with their proposed solution; it's just that I don't fully agree with some of their contentions on methods they're critical of.
What I also liked about this book is that it's pretty easy to get through. It only took me a few hours total to read it. So even if you're not necessarily inclined to agree with the authors on anything, it'll still be a worthwhile read.
I also broadly agree with the authors' thesis that the solution to a lot of the problems brought on by this will have to be professionals reaching people where they're at. I don't fully agree with their opinion that those body cam footage channels on YouTube are of limited utility for that, though. While at times they can be mean spirited and "copaganda"-adjacent (as much as I dislike that term), there is a certain utility to that. There are people who will be won over from that sort of ideology by seeing its practitioners mocked.
I don't think that style of online content is incompatiable with acknowledging the serious harms police have caused minority communities over the decades. It is possible to think that overpolicing of minority communities is a major issue in law enforcement and that sometimes the police are a necessary evil when dealing with sovereign citizens. I'm one of the people who thinks that. Besides, most of the examples of content like this that I personally have seen have involved white officers dealing with white, presumably straight sovereign citizens, not with members of ethnic or gender/sexual minorities.
Mostly I think this is one of those things where a variety of tactics is needed. Stuff like that can be done in a less jingoistic way where it's explained why a cop might approach a situation in a certain way, and how they might apply the law at a street level. As the authors acknowledge, there is a certain educational benefit to that. But that needs to be supplemented with the sort of approaches they've praised involving more community outreach type stuff involving lawyers and judges interacting with the public via social media etc.. It's a matter of different methods reaching different groups of people.
Like I said, I do broadly agree with where they're coming from with their proposed solution; it's just that I don't fully agree with some of their contentions on methods they're critical of.
What I also liked about this book is that it's pretty easy to get through. It only took me a few hours total to read it. So even if you're not necessarily inclined to agree with the authors on anything, it'll still be a worthwhile read.
October 7, 2026
Outlaws takes a look at a phenomenon with which many people in the law—or on the Internet in a post-truth world—have become increasingly familiar: sovereign citizens and pseudolaw.
The authors bring a curious and critical lens to the subject matter, analysing its origins, themes and proponents. They treat its incidents as a spectrum, ranging from refusing to pay tax to murder, and discuss landmark events like Ruby Ridge and Wieambilla.
As a worldview, pseudolaw is really an (exaggerated) way of understanding and making sense of real issues — real inequality, real unaccountability of power, and real government overreach. Interestingly, legal systems are indeed fictions, as pseudolaw adherents claim; albeit, as Yuval Noah Harari would probably say, they are intersubjective realities. As a performance, pseudolaw empowers and enfranchises the disempowered and disenfranchised. As a commodity, it trades, through its gurus, on human embitterment and resentment.
The attention economy and COVID government overreach have accelerated the growth of pseudolaw in recent years. So too has growing inequality and late stage capitalism. Ultimately the authors locate the antidote in better engagement, a more accessible legal system, and evidence of the law working upwards. It’s hard not to agree that pseudolaw would probably not thrive in a society that was structurally fairer.
The authors bring a curious and critical lens to the subject matter, analysing its origins, themes and proponents. They treat its incidents as a spectrum, ranging from refusing to pay tax to murder, and discuss landmark events like Ruby Ridge and Wieambilla.
As a worldview, pseudolaw is really an (exaggerated) way of understanding and making sense of real issues — real inequality, real unaccountability of power, and real government overreach. Interestingly, legal systems are indeed fictions, as pseudolaw adherents claim; albeit, as Yuval Noah Harari would probably say, they are intersubjective realities. As a performance, pseudolaw empowers and enfranchises the disempowered and disenfranchised. As a commodity, it trades, through its gurus, on human embitterment and resentment.
The attention economy and COVID government overreach have accelerated the growth of pseudolaw in recent years. So too has growing inequality and late stage capitalism. Ultimately the authors locate the antidote in better engagement, a more accessible legal system, and evidence of the law working upwards. It’s hard not to agree that pseudolaw would probably not thrive in a society that was structurally fairer.
September 26, 2026
I think the authors strike the right balance between entertaining and educating readers about sovereign citizen ideology. There's lots here that's so absurd that it's automatically funny (e.g. the claims to not pay tax phrased as "no longer paying tithes to the Synagogue of Satan under the 2nd plank of the Communist Manifesto"), but the erosion of legitimacy of the legal system by people who purport to opt out of it is ultimately a serious matter. I appreciated there's lots of indications of where to read more about this. I'll check out the recommended Canadian judgment Meads v Meads.
August 31, 2026
Well researched critique and call to action on the fringe dwellers who pedal in and the victims who adhere to pseudo-law. Ultimately, the message is that the law should be more accessible not just in language but also in platform (social media etc). Law should meet head on and debunk , in plain language, pseudolegal arguments.
October 5, 2026
Fantastic read - I gained so much understanding about the philosophies behind the sovereign citizen movement, particularly their (understandable) sense of unfairness at the inequalities in our society. Like how the very wealthy not paying tax and able to afford legal support. There is no magic prescription for easing the practice of pseudolaw and its misguided adherents, but this book will help.
October 28, 2026
I picked this book up thinking it would be interesting. Instead I used it to fall asleep when I couldn’t sleep because it was so boring. There’s so much potential in the topic, but the whole book felt repetitive like the author had a word count to fill but lacked enough material to meet it. The writing was sterile, robotic and hard to connect with.
September 4, 2026
Damn people be crazy..
October 2, 2026
This was a brilliant read. Well explained and a very open and unbiased discussion of the sovereign citizen movement. Very accessible which is great to see and I learnt a lot which is always great
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October 3, 2026There's a chapter in here that's about the nexus of pseudolaw and Indigenous interactions with law that is brilliantly fascinating. I'd read a whole book on that if the authors take requests.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews