The Volokh Conspiracy - From a California Court of Appeal Opinion:

The pop culture allusion seems a little forced, even given the "planet" in the litigant's argument; still, it struck me as worth passing along:

At the outset, we note that we decline to elaborate on many of Calvin's "issues" raised in his briefs that are utterly without support. For example, Calvin goes on at some length in both his opening and reply briefs to contend all of California's statutes which have been codified in the various codes are void under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, arguing that only common law exists and therefore the trial court had no jurisdiction to determine any of the marital dissolution issues in this case. Although a court could well engage in some scholarly analysis of the plenary power of the California Legislature to enact laws and the irrelevance of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 to any examination of the validity of the California codes and the trial court's jurisdiction, we decline the opportunity to do so. Propositions raised in the briefs which are patently absurd do not require in-depth analysis or discussion.

This is also particularly true for Calvin's argument, contrary to his contention the California codes are invalid, that the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is the "supreme codified law of the planet" which makes his separate claim to all property in this dissolution matter superior to any purported community property claim. With apologies to the former television series Star Trek, we decline "to boldly go where no [rational analysis] has gone before." (Star Trek: Episode Introduction monologue.)

In re Marriage of Ross, 2007 WL 1632365 (Cal. App. June 7).

	[Eugene Volokh, June 8, 2007 at 5:34pm] Trackbacks From a California Court of Appeal Opinion: The pop culture allusion seems a little forced, even given the "planet" in the litigant's argument; still, it struck me as worth passing along: At the outset, we note that we decline to elaborate on many of Calvin's "issues" raised in his briefs that are utterly without support. For example, Calvin goes on at some length in both his opening and reply briefs to contend all of California's statutes which have been codified in the various codes are void under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, arguing that only common law exists and therefore the trial court had no jurisdiction to determine any of the marital dissolution issues in this case. Although a court could well engage in some scholarly analysis of the plenary power of the California Legislature to enact laws and the irrelevance of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 to any examination of the validity of the California codes and the trial court's jurisdiction, we decline the opportunity to do so. Propositions raised in the briefs which are patently absurd do not require in-depth analysis or discussion. This is also particularly true for Calvin's argument, contrary to his contention the California codes are invalid, that the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is the "supreme codified law of the planet" which makes his separate claim to all property in this dissolution matter superior to any purported community property claim. With apologies to the former television series Star Trek, we decline "to boldly go where no [rational analysis] has gone before." (Star Trek: Episode Introduction monologue.) In re Marriage of Ross, 2007 WL 1632365 (Cal. App. June 7).