The Common Law acknowledges that a private man or woman has the inborn Right to travel the nation's roads without the requirement for a driver license or a registered vehicle.
“The right to travel is part of the Liberty of which a citizen cannot be deprived without due process of law under the Fifth Amendment. This Right was emerging as early as the Magna Carta.”
Kent vs. Dulles, 357 US 116 (1958).
“The right to travel is a well-established common right that does not owe its existence to the federal government. It is recognized by the courts as a natural right.”
Schactman v. Dulles, 96 App DC 287, 225 F2d 938, at 941.
“The use of the highway for the purpose of travel and transportation is not a mere privilege, but a common fundamental right of which the public and individuals cannot rightfully be deprived.”
Chicago Motor Coach v. Chicago, 169 NE 221.
“The right of the citizen to travel upon the public highways and to transport his property thereon, either by carriage or by automobile, is not a mere privilege which a city may prohibit or permit at will, but a common law right which he has under the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Thompson v. Smith, 154 SE 579.
“No State government entity has the power to allow or deny passage on the highways, byways, nor waterways…Travel is not a privilege requiring, licensing, vehicle registration, or forced insurances.”
Chicago Coach Co. v. City of Chicago, 337 Ill. 200, 169 N.E. 22.
“Complete freedom of the highways is so old and well established a blessing that we have forgotten the days of the Robber Barons and toll roads, and yet, under an act like this, arbitrarily administered, the highways may be completely monopolized, if, through lack of interest, the people submit, then they may look to see the most sacred of their liberties taken from them one by one, by more or less rapid encroachment.”
The prophetic words of Justice Tolman of the Supreme Court of Washington State.
Robertson vs. Department of Public Works, 180 Wash 133, 147.
There is no law or statute that requires a private motor-powered conveyance to be registered, nor any law or statute that requires a private man or woman to possess a driver license or insurance.
However, if you “register” a motor-powered conveyance it becomes a “vehicle”, subject to all the commercial traffic codes, rules and regulations (and penalties). You become a commercial transport operator, involved in the transportation of goods or passengers for hire, compensation, or profit. This is because a de jure public state has the delegated power of the private people to create, by legalisation, fictional entities for the purpose of commerce, and therefore the state has a right and duty to regulate its corporate franchises when they are used on the public highways for commercial gain. In short, the state controls its creations.
“Legalisation” (entry by contract into commerce) occurs primarily through “registration”, “licensing”, “certification”, “securitization”, and “general deposit”.
“When the public highways are made the place of business the state has a right to regulate their use in the interest of safety and convenience of the public as well as the preservation of the highways.”
Thompson vs. Smith, supra.
“For while a citizen has the right to travel upon the public highways and to transport his property thereon, that right does not extend to the use of the highways, either in whole or in part, as a place for private gain. For the latter purpose no person has a vested right to use the highways of the State, but is a privilege or a license which the Legislature may grant or withhold at its discretion.”
Packard v. Banton, 44 S. Ct. 256.
“We know of no inherent right in one to use the highways for commercial purposes. The highways are primarily for the use of the public, and in the interest of the public, the state may prohibit or regulate ... the use of the highways for gain.”
Robertson vs. Dept. of Public Works, supra.
While the public state has the delegated power of the private people to create corporations and other legal fiction entities for the purpose of commerce, and a right and duty to preserve the safe conduct of the people upon the highways, the state does not have the power to convert the “lawful right” to travel freely upon the highways into a paid “legal privilege” through the imposition of legal fiction “adhesion contracts”.
“Generally, an adhesion contract is defined as a standardized contract form offered to consumers of goods and services on essentially a 'take it or leave it' basis without affording the consumer a realistic opportunity to bargain and under such conditions that the consumer cannot obtain the desired product or services except by acquiescing in the form contract.”
Pendergast v. Sprint Nextel Corp., 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 79 (11th Cir. 2010).
Only by consenting to an “adhesion contract” does it become enforceable, for example a “traffic ticket”. Similarly, vehicle registration and driver license contracts are subject to one's consent to enter into commerce, which is an artificially created system.
The origins of legal “commerce” are found in merchant shipping, for which merchants created their own paper-based system of administration, in which all ships were registered “vessels in commerce”, and disputes between registered “vessels” were resolved in “administrative courts” with a “dock” for the accused “vessel”. As maritime commerce expanded, monarchs (especially British) compelled by their debts to bankers and a desire for colonial conquests, added their naval forces to the pursuit of empire building. Consequently, the merchant's maritime jurisdiction (Law Merchant) became the Admiralty Maritime jurisdiction, the international Law of the Sea.
Today, all commerce occurs within the foreign Admiralty Maritime jurisdiction, and all registered forms of “transport” used in commerce such as ships, aircraft and “vehicles”, function as “vessels in commerce”, as do all registered legal fiction entities including corporations and “artificial persons”.
The “theatre of commerce” is a legal fiction aberration of the mind in which the participants “act” in legally prescribed “roles”, including a “driver”. Most people unwittingly contract into a commercial “performance” as a “driver”, a “resident”, a “U.S. citizen”, and so on, because of non-disclosure, deceit or coercion, by state officials, which can only be construed as fraud and the unjust enrichment of governmental agencies, ultimately serving the debt-money system of bondage.
“The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.” - Edmund Burke, 1784.
The people, by legally contracting through registration and licensing, become subject to the policing powers of the incorporated government operating in commerce, but in the Common Law jurisdiction – the national and supreme Law of the Land, such contracts are only valid when they are entered into knowingly, intentionally, and voluntarily.
Moreover, the Common Law “right to travel” freely and unpaid on the public highways without a vehicle registration or driver license contract, in the “ordinary course of life and business”, is an unalienable right that cannot be revoked by the state. Nor can the state convert that right into a privilege granted for a fee.
“The state cannot diminish Rights of the people.”
Hurtado vs. California, 110 US 516.
“No state may convert a secured liberty into a privilege, and issue a license and fee for it.”
Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105.
“If the state does convert a right into a privilege and issue a license and charge a fee for it, you can ignore the license and fee and engage in the right with impunity.”
Shuttleworth v. Birmingham, Alabama, 373 U.S. 262.
Unless a private traveler causes harm to people or damage to property (a crime) on the public highways, or is evidently such a danger, there is no reasonable cause for interference by any governmental agency in their private affairs.
Consider the legal definitions of the following terms:
Automobile. The term ‘motor vehicle’ is different and broader than the word ‘automobile.’
City of Dayton v. DeBrosse, 62 Ohio App. 232.
Automobile. The word “automobile” connotes a pleasure vehicle designed for the transportation of persons on highways.
American Mutual Liability Ins. Co. v. Chaput, 60 A.2d 118, 120 95 NH 200.
Automobile. It [automobile] is an ordinary vehicle of pleasure and business. It is no more dangerous per se than a team of horses and a carriage, or a gun, or a sailboat, or a motor launch.
Daily v. Maxwell, 133 S.W. 351; 152 Mo.App. 415; Fielder v. Davison, 77 S.E. 618; 139 Ga. 509; Farnsworth v. Rampa Electric Co., 57 So. 233, 237.
Automobile. A ‘motor vehicle’ or ‘automobile for hire’ is a motor vehicle, other than an automobile stage, used for the transportation of persons which remuneration is received.
International Motor Transit Company v. Seattle, 251 P. 120.
Automobile. The definition of “goods” includes an automobile.
Henson v Government Employees Finance & Industrial Loan Corp., 15 UCC Rep Serv 1137; 257 Ark 273, 516 S.W.2d 1 (1974).
Note that when an “automobile” is used for commercial gain it becomes a “motor vehicle”, because the purpose of its use determines its legal definition. Also note that the legal definition of “goods” includes an “automobile”.
Commerce. From L. commercium "trade, trafficking"; from com - "together" + merx (gen. mercis) "merchandise" (see market). From commerce, "pertaining to trade"; meaning "done for the sake of financial profit". Commodity, from commodité "benefit, profit," from L. commoditatem
Commerce. Intercourse by way of trade and traffic between different peoples or states and the citizens or inhabitants thereof, including not only the purchase, sale, and exchange of commodities, but also the instrumentalities and agencies by which it is promoted and the means and appliances by which it is carried on, and the transportation of persons as well as of goods, both by land and by sea.
Brennan v. Titusville, 153 U. S. 289, 14 Sup. Ct. 829, 38 L. Ed. 719, et al.
Black's Law Dictionary, 2nd Edition.
Commerce. The words “commerce” and “trade” are synonymous, but not identical. They are often used interchangeably; but, strictly speaking, commerce relates to intercourse or dealings with foreign nations, states, or political communities, while trade denotes business intercourse or mutual traffic within the limits of a state or nation, or the buying, selling, and exchanging of articles between members of the same community.
See Hooker v. Vandewater, 4 Denio (N. Y.) 353, 47 Am. Dec. 258; Jacob; Wharton
Black's Law Dictionary, 2nd Edition.
Note that “commerce” relates to dealings with “foreign nations” while “trade” is within a state or nation. Hence all commerce occurs in a foreign jurisdiction, the Admiralty Maritime jurisdiction – the international Law of the Sea.
Used for commercial purposes. The term “used for commercial purposes” means the carriage of persons or property for any fare, fee, rate, charge or other consideration, or directly or indirectly in connection with any business, or other undertaking intended for profit.
U.S. Code, Title 18, Part I, Chapter 2, Section 31 – Definitions (10)
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/31
Commercial vehicle. A ‘commercial vehicle’ is a motor vehicle of a type required to be registered under this code used or maintained for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit or designed, used or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. (b) Passenger vehicles which are not used for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit and house-cars are not commercial vehicles.
California Vehicle Code (2002) Section 260.
Common Law. That which derives its force and authority from the universal consent and immemorial practice of the people.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1856.
Common Law. As distinguished from law created by the enactment of legislatures, the common law comprises the body of those principles and rules of action, relating to the government and security of persons [people] and property, which derive their authority solely from usages and customs. .. As a compound adjective “common-law” is understood as contrasted with or opposed to “statutory.”
Black's Law Dictionary, 2nd Edition.
Conveyance, contracts. The transfer of the title to land by one or more persons to another or others. By the term persons is here understood not only natural persons but corporations.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1856.
Conveyance. The act of taking or carrying someone or something from one place to another; something that carries people or things from one place to another.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Driver. One employed in conducting or operating a coach, carriage, wagon, or other vehicle.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 4th Edition.
Driver. A person employed in the engagement or activity of operating or conducting a motor vehicle or passenger vehicle transporting persons or property for hire or compensation on the public highways.
Hamilton’s Dictionary of Commercial Terms, 3rd Edition (1968), p. 43.
Note that the definition of “driver” includes one who is "employed" in conducting a vehicle. The definition of “employed” signifies both doing a thing and being under contract while doing it. A “driver” who is “employed” under contract is in the service of another, is liable to perform certain duties, and is also entitled to just compensation, for example a taxicab driver, truck driver, bus driver, limousine driver.
“Driving is a privilege not a right.”
California Driver Handbook (2002), p. 7.
Driver's license. "Driver's license" means any type of license or privilege to operate a motor vehicle issued under the laws of a jurisdiction.
Indiana Code, Title 9, Motor Vehicles, Article 13, Chapter 2, Definitions, IC 9-28-2-4.
https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/2012/title9/article13/chapter2/
Driving privileges. "Driving privileges" means the authority granted to an individual that allows the individual to operate a vehicle of the type and in the manner for which the authority was granted.
Indiana Code, Title 9, Motor Vehicles, Article 13, Chapter 2, Definitions, IC 9-13-2-48.3.
https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/2012/title9/article13/chapter2/
Suspension of driving privileges. The bureau may suspend the driving privileges of a driver licensed under IC 9-24 for failure to meet the conditions of a traffic citation of a jurisdiction in which the traffic offense occurred.
Indiana Code, Title 9, Motor Vehicles, Article 28, Chapter 2, IC 9-28-2-8.
https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/2012/title9/article28/chapter2/
Employed. This signifies both the act of doing a thing and the being under contractor orders to do it. U. S. v. Morris, 14 Pet. 475, 10 L. Ed. 543; U. S. v. The Catharine, 2Paine, 721, Fed. Cas. No. 14.755.
Black's Law Dictionary, 2nd Edition.
https://thelawdictionary.org/employed/
Employed. One who is in the service of another. Such a person is entitled to rights and liable to perform certain duties.
2. He is entitled to a just compensation for his services; when there has been a special contract, to what has been agreed upon; when not, to such just recompense as he deserves. 3. He is bound to perform the services for which he has engaged himself; and for a violation of his engagement he may be sued, but he is not liable to corporal correction. An exception to this rule may be mentioned; on the ground of necessity, a sailor may be punished by reasonable correction, when it is necessary for the safety of the vessel, and to maintain discipline. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 1001: 2 Id. n. 2296.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1856.
Highway. A passage or road through the country, or some parts of it, for the use of the people. The term highway is said to be a generic name for all kinds of public ways.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 6th Edition.
Highway. An easement acquired by the public in the use of a road or way for thoroughfare. A free and public roadway, or street: one which every person has the right to use.
Black's Law Dictionary, 4th Edition.
Common Highway. By this term is meant a road to be used by the community at large for any purpose of transit or traffic.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1856.
Note that “traffic” is legally defined as “commerce”.
What is meant by the term "highway"?: "Highway" is intended to cover all land that is a highway or public road for the purposes of the common law. To this end, the term is defined to include any land that is dedicated to the public for use as a highway, but does not include any structure that does not form part of the highway. This includes highways created under common law as well as highways created under legislation. Highways can exist over both private and public land, the defining characteristic of a highway being that every member of the public has a right to pass over the land at all times:
See the High Court decision in Mayor, Councillors and Citizens of the City of Keilor v O'Donohue (1971) 126 CLR 353 at 363.
Transport (Highway Rule) Bill, Explanatory Memorandum, Definitions.
https://tinyurl.com/legislation-vic-govt-au-pdf
Note that a highway can be “created under common law”, as well as “created under legislation”, therefore a highway can be created and used in either jurisdiction.
License. In Governmental Regulation. Authority to do some act or carry on some trade or business, in it's nature lawful but prohibited by statute, except with the permission of the civil authority or which would otherwise be unlawful.
Bouvier's Dictionary Of Law, 3rd Edition, 1984.
License. A permit, granted by an appropriate governmental body, generally for consideration, to a person, firm, or corporation, to pursue some occupation or to carry on some business which is subject to regulation under the police power.
Rosenblatt vs. California State Board of Pharmacy, 158 P.2d 199, 203.
License. A license fee or tax is a price paid to government or municipal authority for a license to engage in and pursue a particular calling or occupation. Tax on privilege of exercising corporate franchise.
City Investments v. Johnson, 6 Cal.App.2d 150.
License, contracts. A right given by some competent authority to do an act, which without such authority would be illegal. The instrument or writing which secures this right, is also called a license.
Vide Ayl. Parerg, 353; 15 Vin. Ab. 92; Ang. Wat. Co. 61, 85.
License. Leave to do a thing which licensor could prevent.
Western Electric Co. vs. Pacent Reproducer Corp., 42 F.2d 116, 118.
Motor Vehicle. A taxi, omnibus or any variety of motor vehicles exclusively used and designed for commerce.
Blacks Law Dictionary, 4th Edition.
Motor Vehicle. The term “motor vehicle” means every description of carriage or other contrivance propelled or drawn by mechanical power and used for commercial purposes on the highways in the transportation of passengers, or passengers and property, or property or cargo.
U.S. Code, Title 18, Part I, Chapter 2, Section 31 – Definitions (6).
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/31
Motor Vehicle. A ‘motor vehicle’ or ‘automobile for hire’ is a motor vehicle, other than an automobile stage, used for the transportation of persons which remuneration is received.
International Motor Transit Company v. Seattle, 251 P. 120.
Register, vb.1. To enter in a public registry (register a new car).
Black's Law Dictionary, 8th Edition, 2004.
Register. To record, or enter precisely in a designated place, certain information in the public records as is mandated by statute. A book of public records. A register contains various types of information that is available to the public, such as births, dates, and marriages. The term register is also used as a designation for the public official charged with the duty of maintaining such records.
West's Encyclopedia of American Law, 2nd Edition (2008).
Registration. Recording; inserting in an official register; the act of making a list, catalogue, schedule, or register, particularly of an official character, or of making entries therein. In re Supervisors of Election (C. C.) 1 Fed. 1.
Black's Law Dictionary, 2nd Edition.
Traffic. Commerce; sale or exchange of merchandise, bills, money and the like. The passing of goods or commodities from one person to another for an equivalent in goods or money. The subjects of transportation on a route, as persons or goods; the passing to and fro of persons, animals, vehicles, or vessels, along a route of transportation, as along a street, highway, etc.
Black’s Law Dictionary, 5th edition (1979), p. 1340.
Traffic. Commerce, trade, sale or exchange of merchandise, bills, money, or the like. The passing of goods and commodities from one person to another for an equivalent in goods or money.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1914 ed., p. 3307.
Note that “traffic” is legally defined as “commerce”, therefore a “traffic ticket” is “commercial”.
Transportation. The removal of goods or persons from one place to another, by a carrier.
Black's Law Dictionary, 3rd Edition.
Transportation. "transportation" includes the entire body of services rendered by a carrier in connection with the receipt, handling, and delivery of property transported, and includes the furnishing of cars.
Under Interstate Commerce Act, (49 USCA sec. 1 et seq.).
Traveler. One who passes from place to place, whether for pleasure, instruction, business, or health.
Locket vs. State, 47 Ala. 45.
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1914 ed., p. 3309.
Travel. To journey or to pass through or over; as a country district, road, etc. To go from one place to another, whether on foot, or horseback, or in any conveyance as a train, an automobile, carriage, ship, or aircraft; Make a journey.
Century Dictionary, p.2034.
Travel, Traveler. The terms “travel” and “traveler” are usually construed in their broad and general sense where used in this connection, rather than in a narrow and restricted one, and the duty and consequent liability is extended so as to include all those who rightfully use the highways viatically, and who have occasion to pass over them for the purpose of business, convenience, or pleasure.
Van Cleef v. Chicago, 240 Ill 318, 88 NE 815, 23 LRA(NS) 636, 130 Am St Rep 275.
Note that a “traveler” can be legally defined as a “driver” when they use the public highway “for the purpose of business”, if business equates to commerce. Their purpose determines the legal definition.
The distinction must be drawn between:
1. Travelling upon and moving one's private property upon the public roads, which is a Common Law “right”.
2. Using the public roads as a place of commerce in a for-hire capacity, which is a legally granted “privilege”.
“Traveling” is a Common Law right exercised by a private man or woman defined as a “traveler”, in a non-commercial capacity, in the ordinary course of their life.
“Driving” is a legally granted privilege performed in a registered motor vehicle by a licensed “driver”, in a for-hire capacity, for the purpose of commercial gain.
One's purpose for using the highway determines one's jurisdiction.
Transport legislation governing vehicle registration and driver licensing
converts a “lawful right to travel” into a “legal privilege to drive”.
If a private man or woman is determined to exercise their “right to travel”, they may eventually be stopped on the highway and subjected to harassment, coercion, or force. As a “traveler”, they also accept a Common Law responsibility not to cause harm on the highway, and for this reason their private automobile should be mechanically fit for the road, and documented as such with a safety check equivalent to that of a “motor vehicle”. Similarly, they have a responsibility to control their private automobile in a safe manner consistent with the road rules obeyed by “drivers”. In many respects, a “traveler” must be the safest user of the public highway.
A “traveler” in a non-commercial capacity, if stopped on the highway, is not required to provide a government issued Driver License or other such documentation. They may indeed have such documents, but if they volunteer them on the highway without any rebuttal they are activating the commercial contracts thereby evidenced, becoming subject to the commercial traffic codes, rules and regulations (and penalties).
Experienced “travelers” always carry supporting paperwork, and a video recorder.
See Rebut the Presumption
See Peace Officers