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Declaration of Status
A Common Law Declaration in the Jurisdiction of South Australia
Executed this _____ day of ______________, in the year of Our Lord Two Thousand and _______
Place of execution: South Australia, being one of the states of the Commonwealth of Australia
Preamble
I, John Henry, of the family Doe, a living man born upon the land of South Australia within the Commonwealth of Australia, being of sound mind, of full age and capacity, acting freely and without coercion, duress, or undue influence, make this solemn Declaration of Status freely, voluntarily, and of full comprehension.
This Declaration is not a submission to any court, agency, or tribunal. It is not an application for any benefit, licence, or status. It is not an attempt to manufacture legal consequences through private notice. It is the private record of a living man asserting rights that have always been his, that were never surrendered by him, and that no instrument of ordinary legislation has validly removed.
Part One: Foundation in the Constitutional Text
The Commonwealth of Australia was constituted by the agreement of the people. The Preamble to the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (UK) states that the people of the colonies “have agreed to unite in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth.” Covering Clause 3 directed that “the people… shall be united in a Federal Commonwealth under the name of the Commonwealth of Australia.” Covering Clause 6 defined the term: “‘The Commonwealth’ shall mean the Commonwealth of Australia as established under this Act” – established by the agreement of the people.
The Commonwealth of Australia is a compact of the people. I was born into it. I stand as one of those people.
Part Two: What I Am
I, John Henry, of the family Doe, am a living man – a natural man born of woman on the soil of the Commonwealth of Australia, born prior to 1 July 1973. I am not a legal fiction, not a corporation, not a statutory person.
At the time of my birth, the foundational vocabulary of the Commonwealth statute book described the government under which I was born as the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The official Gazette under which that government published its acts was the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. The men and women subject to that government were the people of the Commonwealth, as constituted by the Preamble and the covering clauses of the Constitution Act.
I was born one of those people. I remain one of those people.
Part Three: The Documented Vocabulary Transition and What I Do Not Accept
I am aware of and have examined the following documented sequence of administrative and legislative acts, all of which are verified from primary sources:
That the Australian Government Publishing Service was established within the Department of the Treasury by administrative action, operative 1 July 1970, without a dedicated Act of Parliament and without public announcement in the official Gazette.
That the masthead of the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette changed, between Gazette No. 121 (30 December 1970) and Gazette No. 1 of 1971, to include “AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING SERVICE” – silently, without announcement, over the Christmas-New Year break of 1970-71, under the Gorton Coalition government.
That section 4(1)(a) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1973 (No. 79 of 1973), assented to 19 June 1973, substituted into the foundational interpretive statute a new definition: “‘Australia’ or ‘the Commonwealth’ means the Commonwealth of Australia and, when used in a geographical sense, does not include an external Territory” – importing a geographical dimension absent from the Constitution.
That section 4(2) of the same Act renamed the official Gazette from the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette to the Australian Government Gazette, operative from 1 July 1973 by Proclamation of the Governor-General dated 27 June 1973.
That the Great Seal was changed by Royal Warrant on 19 October 1973 from the Great Seal of the Commonwealth of Australia to the Great Seal of Australia, following passage of the Royal Style and Titles Act 1973.
That the Statute Law Revision Act 1973 (No. 216 of 1973), operative from 31 December 1973, substituted “Australian Government” for “Commonwealth” terminology throughout hundreds of Acts – under parliamentary assurances from both the introducing minister and the Attorney-General that the changes effected no change in substance in the law.
None of these instruments was submitted to referendum under section 128 of the Constitution. The Constitution has not been amended. The Preamble is unrepealed. Covering Clause 6 is unrepealed.
I do not accept the definitional equivalence imposed by section 4(1)(a) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1973 as altering my constitutional standing as one of the people of the Commonwealth of Australia. A statutory definition operating on the statute book does not amend the Constitution. Section 128 of the Constitution reserves amendment of the Constitution exclusively to the referendum process. No referendum was held.
The distinction between “Australia” as a geographical description and “the Commonwealth of Australia” as the constitutional compact of the people is documented, verifiable, and not resolved by ordinary legislative definition.
Part Four: Rights I Hold and Reserve
At Common Law
I stand at common law as a living man with all the rights, liberties, and protections that common law affords. I have not contracted away those rights. I have not voluntarily surrendered them. I specifically invoke:
The Liberty of Subject Act 1354 (28 Edw III c 3) – unrepealed – which provides that no man shall be imprisoned, dispossessed, disinherited, or put to death without being brought to answer by due process of law.
The Observance of Due Process of Law Act 1368 (42 Edw III c 3) – unrepealed – which provides that no man shall be put out of land or tenement, nor taken nor imprisoned, nor disinherited, nor put to death, without being brought to answer by due process of law.
The Bill of Rights 1688 (UK) as received into Australian law, specifically the provisions against excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishments, and against the levying of money for or to the use of the Crown by pretence of prerogative without grant of Parliament.
Under the Constitution
I retain all rights arising from the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (UK) as the unrepealed foundational instrument of the Commonwealth. Specifically:
The right preserved by section 74 of the Constitution – that “this Constitution shall not impair any right which the Queen may be pleased to exercise by virtue of Her Royal Prerogative to grant special leave of appeal from the High Court to Her Majesty in Council” – is expressly reserved. Section 74 has not been amended by referendum. Its operative effect has been rendered inert by the Australia Act 1986 (Cth) section 11 and by the High Court’s declaration in Kirmani v Captain Cook Cruises Pty Ltd (No 2) [1985] HCA, but it has not been removed from the Constitution by the only process capable of doing so – referendum under section 128. The right is reserved.
The right under section 128 that the Constitution may only be altered by referendum – meaning that no Act of Parliament, however framed, has the capacity to alter the foundational constitutional standing of the people of the Commonwealth without their approval at referendum. This right is reserved in respect of every instrument enacted since 1 January 1973 that substituted the vocabulary of “Australian Government” or “Australia” for the constitutional vocabulary of the Commonwealth without referendum.
Property and Due Process
I retain and exercise without waiver: property rights and the peaceful enjoyment thereof; due process and natural justice including the right to be heard and to require proof of lawful authority before any penalty, forfeiture, or restraint is imposed; protection against arbitrary executive or administrative action.
Part Five: What I Am Not, and What I Do Not Consent To
I am not “an Australian” in the geographical and statutory sense introduced by section 4(1)(a) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1973 as my foundational constitutional description. I acknowledge that the word “Australian” is used colloquially and in many statutory contexts. I do not accept that its statutory use alters my standing as one of the people of the Commonwealth of Australia under the unrepealed Constitution.
I do not consent to be identified permanently or by default as a “resident of Australia” where that description is used to assert jurisdiction over me as an inhabitant of a geographical territory rather than as one of the people of the constitutional Commonwealth.
I do not consent to presumptions of jurisdiction based solely on silence, administrative custom, or implication.
I am not a surety for, nor agent of, any artificial person, incorporated entity, or legal fiction unless I knowingly and expressly contract to act as such in writing for valuable consideration.
Any licence, registration, identifier, or number associated with me is held for the specific and limited purpose for which it was issued and does not constitute a general or permanent submission of status or rights.
Part Six: Acknowledgment of Lawful Obligations
This Declaration does not assert that I am outside the operation of all law. Valid legislation, properly enacted by the Parliament of the Commonwealth and constitutionally grounded, may create lawful obligations. Where such obligations exist, I acknowledge them as a man engaging under reservation of rights – not as a statutory “Australian” in the geographical sense, but as one of the people of the Commonwealth engaging with the institutions created by the people’s Constitution.
This Declaration does not assert immunity from judicial process. Where a court of competent jurisdiction constituted under Chapter III of the Constitution exercises valid judicial power over a matter properly before it, I acknowledge that power as grounded in the people’s Constitution.
Part Seven: Notice to Any Agency or Party
Any agency, institution, court, corporation, or individual that seeks to impose an obligation, penalty, or restraint upon the man John Henry, of the family Doe, is put on notice of the following:
The constitutional name question will be placed on the record. The agency will be asked to identify its authority by constitutional name – as the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia as constituted by the Preamble and Covering Clause 6 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900, or as the “Australian Government,” a name derived from no constitutional provision and substituted into the statute book by ordinary legislation under parliamentary assurances of no substantive change.
The referendum reservation will be placed on the record. No vocabulary substitution effected without referendum is accepted as altering the foundational standing of the man making this Declaration.
The section 74 reservation will be placed on the record as set out in Part Four above.
All rights are reserved. None are surrendered by engagement with any process. The record of this Declaration is available upon request and will be placed before any court, tribunal, or body to which any matter concerning this man is referred.
This notice is informational. It does not purport to create legal consequences through silence or acquiescence. It establishes what is on the private record and what will be placed on the public record when relevant.
Part Eight: Execution
I make this Declaration before the witnesses named below, of my own free will, without duress, without mistake as to its nature, and with full comprehension of its content and purpose.
Executed this _____ day of ___________________, in the year of Our Lord Two Thousand and _____
Place of execution: South Australia, within the Commonwealth of Australia
By: ___________________________________
John Henry, of the family Doe
A living man; one of the people of the Commonwealth of Australia
All Rights Reserved – Without Prejudice – Without Recourse
Witness One
I, the undersigned, witnessed the execution of this Declaration by the man John Henry, of the family Doe, on the date stated above.
Full name: ________________________________
Address: __________________________________
Signature: ___________________ Date: ________
Witness Two
I, the undersigned, witnessed the execution of this Declaration by the man John Henry, of the family Doe, on the date stated above.
Full name: ________________________________
Address: __________________________________
Signature: ___________________ Date: ________
Nota Bene: This Declaration is a private record instrument. It is not filed with any court or agency upon execution. It is held by the man who executes it and produced when relevant. The man who executes it is encouraged to seek independent legal advice from a qualified practitioner familiar with constitutional law before deploying it in any formal proceeding. Nothing in this Declaration constitutes legal advice.
Without Prejudice – All Rights Reserved – Without Recourse
Veritas odit moras. Ubi jus ibi remedium.
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