United Kingdom
David Griffin, PhD, JD, earned his law degree from Boston University in 2016 and completed his doctorate in language and communication at Cardiff University in 2022. His PhD thesis, Lexomancy: Law and Magic in the Pseudolegal Writings of the Sovereign Citizen Movement, explored rhetorical and symbolic elements in legal filings produced by members of the Sovereign Citizen movement, compared with those written by professional attorneys.
His research focuses on the use of language in legal contexts and the broader semiotics of authority. He currently works as a Research Associate at Cardiff University and is a Visiting Lecturer in Linguistics at Roehampton University
This article explores how Sovereign Citizen pseudolegal documents imitate attorney-authored filings to construct identity, reject legal authority, and project false legitimacy.
