© 2003-2006 David Moles

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madness

A dangerous legal precedent

5 o'clock, September 25, 2003

And one of which I think the TorCon committee should have warned attendees: Legally, at least within the jurisdiction of the Ontario Superior Court, extraterrestrials are not persons.

[I]f the plaintiff is not a person in that he is neither a human being nor a corporation, he cannot be a plaintiff as contemplated by the Rules of Civil Procedure. The entire basis of Mr. Joly's actions is that he is a martian, not a human being. There is certainly no suggestion that he is a corporation. I conclude therefore, that Mr. Joly, on his pleading as drafted, has no status before the Court.

—— Joly v. Pelletier, [1999] O.J. No. 1728 (Ontario Super. Ct., May 16, 1999)

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