Identity Lesson #3

JOHN SMITH vs. John Smith

Is there a difference between the ALL CAPITALS version of your name and the proper-case version? The strawman theory suggests these may refer to different legal entities.

Look at official documents. Notice how your name appears — almost always in ALL CAPITALS. Is this merely a formatting convention, or does it signify something legally significant?

The Observation

JOHN DAVID SMITH

How it appears on official documents

John David Smith

How you write your own name

The ALL CAPITALS format appears consistently on:

  • Driver's licenses
  • Birth certificates
  • Social Security cards
  • Court documents
  • Tax forms
  • Bank statements
  • Credit cards
  • Bills and invoices

The Theory

The "strawman" or "artificial person" theory proposes:

Format What It Represents
JOHN SMITH
(All capitals)
  • Ens legis — "a being of the law"
  • Corporate fiction / "person" / artificial entity
  • Created at birth registration
  • Identified by Social Security Number
  • Subject to statutory and administrative law
John Smith
(Upper/lowercase)
  • The living man or woman
  • Flesh and blood, soul and spirit
  • Exists independent of government
  • Possesses inherent, unalienable rights
  • Subject to natural law and common law
Ens Legis
Black's Law Dictionary
"A creature of the law; an artificial being, as contrasted with a natural person. Applied to corporations, considered as deriving their existence entirely from the law."

How the Entity Is Created

According to this theory:

Step 1
Birth Occurs

A living child is born — a natural being.

Step 2
Birth Is Registered

Parents file a birth certificate — creating a record.

Step 3
Certificate Is Issued

A document with the name in ALL CAPITALS is created.

Step 4
SSN Is Assigned

The entity receives a tax identification number.

The living child and the registered entity are not the same thing — they merely share a name (in different formats).

The Bonding Theory

Some extend this theory to suggest birth certificates are securities — bonds traded on exchanges, with the newborn's future labor as collateral. This is one of the more contested claims and has been repeatedly rejected by courts. Proceed with extreme caution.

The Connection to Commerce

This connects to signature liability:

  • When you sign as "John Smith," you may be acting as the living being
  • When you sign for "JOHN SMITH," you may be acting as representative of the entity
  • How you sign determines which capacity — and which liabilities — apply

Under UCC 3-402, signing as a representative for an identified represented person can shield you from personal liability:

Example Signature Format

By: Smith, John, representative
For: JOHN SMITH, represented person
Without recourse
All rights reserved, UCC 1-308

Effect: If valid, the representative (living person) is not personally liable — only the represented entity.

Evidence and Arguments

Supporting Observations
  • Consistent use of ALL CAPS on government docs
  • Legal style guides use proper capitalization
  • UCC provides for representative signatures
  • "Person" doesn't always mean "human"
Counter-Arguments
  • No statute defines ALL CAPS as different entity
  • Courts routinely dismiss "strawman" arguments
  • Agencies claim it's just data formatting
  • Many who've tried faced adverse consequences

Strong Warnings

Court Hostility

Courts have consistently rejected "strawman" and "artificial person" arguments. Examples of consequences:

  • Cases dismissed with prejudice
  • Sanctions for frivolous filings
  • Contempt findings
  • Criminal charges in extreme cases
  • Loss of credibility for other valid arguments

The value of understanding this theory is primarily:

What It's Good For
  • Awareness — Seeing how the system may operate
  • Questioning — Asking who is being addressed
  • Capacity — Understanding representative signing
NOT a Strategy For
  • Avoiding taxes
  • Escaping valid debts
  • Evading court jurisdiction
  • Nullifying agreements you entered
📍
You understand the name distinction. Next: How the 14th Amendment created a new form of citizenship — and why it matters.