I’ve discussed this argument in the past as a presuppositional refutation of American government (at least the American government of the last 50-100 years which has declared Jesus Christ to be unconstitutional). But I’m going to discuss how it would be applied to get out of a traffic ticket. This argument has been successful in getting people out of tickets, and I’ve stolen it lock, stock and barrel from Marc Stevens. You should check out his website and Youtube channel.

For my recent ticket I was planning on using yesterday’s argument, and if that was not successful, I was going to use this argument. The argument is that the cop who wrote the ticket and the law he cited you under don’t have jurisdiction over you, or at least that they have to prove jurisdiction to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you’re guilty of a crime.

It is a pretty simple argument, and here’s how it might go:

You ask the cop for evidence or facts to show that the law applies to you.

The only thing he can really say is that the law applies because the law says it applies. You would then point out that that is an invalid answer, because it is circular reasoning. And then you would repeat the question. When he isn’t able to answer, you would move that the case be dismissed for lack of evidence of jurisdiction.

To further explain the issue, I would give an example. You could take a notebook and write “Sam’s Law for the state of Colorado” across the front. Then you write in (in very nice handwriting), “Law 1-1a: This law applies to everyone in Colorado.”

Why doesn’t Sam’s law apply to you (assuming you’re within the boundaries of the state of Colorado)? An enforcement agent of Sam’s law would say, “Look at Law 1-1a. It clearly says it applies to you.” But Sam’s law can’t apply because Sam’s law says it applies. That would be circular reasoning. In reality, Sam’s law is every bit as valid as the laws of the state of Colorado. It’s just that Sam’s law doesn’t have thousands of armed enforcers willing to kill you.

If you check out Marc Steven’s website, linked above, you will see that this technique has worked to get people out of tickets and other legal attacks.