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BLOG WATCH
The Brisbane Times reports on the case of a person
who “tried in vain
to argue it is
‘impossible’ for him to pay a speeding fine because the Australian
constitution states the government can accept only
coins made of gold or silver as payment
for debts.
Indeed, section 115 of the Commonwealth
of Australia Constitution Act
states: ‘The state shall not coin money nor make anything
but gold and silver coin a legal
tender in payment of debts.’
”
I would just
note that Section 115 actually says “A State shall not
coin money…” rather than
“The state”, which implies
the Federal Government is covered by the section. The speeding driver was aware of this, being quoted as saying “a state, as opposed
to the Commonwealth, cannot compel
you to pay in other than gold and silver coin. Fairly
simple.”
While this doesn’t seem to be put in as a counter argument
by the prosecution, Australia
does have gold and silver
coins minted by The Perth Mint.
Interesting then that the Brisbane Times reported
that “he argued he could
not pay a $200 speeding
fine, because ‘there
is no gold and silver
coins in common circulation’."
Certainly The Perth Mint’s
coins are not in common circulation, but I don’t think that would have been material to his point that the state government could only compel
payment in gold coins, considering
that The Perth Mint coins
are legal tender (for their
face value).
It is just
as well for the defendant
that the prosecution was not aware that The Perth
Mint 2oz gold coin has a face value of $200, as
they may well have been able to compel him to pay the $200 fine with that coin (worth around $3,300 at metal value)!
There is also
the now discontinued
Royal Australian Mint $200 gold coin. Weighing 10 grams and only 91.67% pure, it would have only cost him
around $500.
Supreme Court Justice Martin Daubney was quoted
as saying that the basis
of Mr Clampett's argument had
long been discredited. Given
the defendant was ordered to pay the $200 fine,
$76.90 in court costs and $3,500 for the police prosecution's out of pocket expenses, he would probably have been better off paying the fine with a Perth Mint 2oz gold coin.
Download today’s full
Blog Watch (pdf 186kb) for more reviews:
SILVER: THE SHREDDER
Is silver a “shredder” that chews up investors' money or do
you agree with David Jollie, “the most accurate forecaster in last year’s
London Bullion Market
Association survey of silver
prices”?
SILVER MEMES (OR MYTHS)
In his MineWeb
article, Lawrence Williams has a go at a couple of common silver memes.
JAPAN INVESTORS LIQUIDATING GOLD
It’s not just
because “the fear of
inflation have been wrung out of the Japanese psyche over the last
15 years.”
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