It is illegal to collect payment for tollway.
SPER (State Payments Enforcement Registry of Queensland)
115 States not to coin money
A State shall not coin money, nor make anything but gold and silver coin a legal tender in payment of debts.
This section is what is
known constitutionally as an “express prohibition”. In other words the
States are expressly prohibited from making anything other than gold and
silver coin a legal tender in payment of debts.
A State cannot
substitute anything for payment of a debt, such as property or assets of
any kind, nor can a period of imprisonment be substituted for
non-payment. State courts may find liability but cannot order other than
gold and silver coin be paid to extinguish debt.
This was confirmed to
me recently in the Queensland Supreme Court when Justice Ros Atkinson,
when I asked her how costs could be paid considering Section 115 of the
Commonwealth Constitution, said, “I won’t go into that, it is up to
you”. I then said “Thank you your Honour, that means they can’t be
paid”.
Crown Law has not sent me a bill since that time as they know
full well they cannot collect what is not available.
As there are no
gold and silver coins in common circulation it is not possible for a
State to make any person pay debts to a State, or to any person in a
State, as this would breach Section 115.
Conversely, not being able to
compel any person to accept other than gold and silver coin, a State is
prohibited from demanding other than gold and silver coin.
No comments:
Post a Comment