Edward William Ellis, Common Law QC

[SpearGrass]

His name was Alexander Chaffers. There is a short article about him in Wikipedia, which so far as I can see, is accurate. There's a longer article behind a paywall by Professor Michael Taggart in the Cambridge Law Journal. The article is full of echoes of people well known to this part of Quatloos. It begins "It is highly unlikely that those persons declared habitually vexatious litigants pursuant to statute would know to curse Alexander Chaffer for their predicament. Nevertheless, it was principally the litigation mania of Mr. Chaffers that stirred the British Parliament to enact the Vexatious Actions Act 1896 ... Alexander Chaffers filed 48 proceedings against a number of leading personages... but succeeded only once, receiving one pound for work done copying an affidavit for the use of the Treasury’s solicitors. Costs were awarded against Chaffers in most of the other cases, but he never paid a penny".

Chaffers sounds like a horrible man, and his father seems to share that view as he disinherited him. There are hints of dodgy dealings from the beginning of his legal career (in 1845) but his career of vexatious litigation really started when he published allegations (possibly correct) that a married woman in a good position in society (Lady Twiss, wife of a QC) had been a prostitute in her youth. His purpose may initially have been blackmail, but when she refused to pay, he went public. She prosecuted for libel, was destroyed by his cross-examination, and fled London, which caused her case to collapse. The magistrate, in dismissing the case, had some cruel but fair things to say about Chaffers. So he sued the magistrate, though it went nowhere. Does it remind you of anyone when he later asserted that "an eminent QC" had told him he had a good case? He also he published a pamphlet defending his behaviour, full of allegations of conspiracies in high places.

By this time he had been made bankrupt and was no longer paying for a Practising Certificate. The Twiss case had made him an outcast and in 1879 he entered the workhouse. Soon after though he started working for a lady called Georgina Weldon in her main hobby, lawsuits. She brought over 100, but unlike Twiss she won some of them. This experience may have encouraged him to apply in 1886 for the return his practising certificate. The Law Society opposed on the grounds that, because of the Twiss case, he was not a fit and proper person, and the Master of the Rolls agreed.

In 1889 Weldon retired to France. Perhaps with time on his hands, Chaffers really was off after that, devoting his life to libelling and suing all and sundry. He generally eschewed the support of lawyers, and on the one occasion where he employed one, he failed to pay him and then sued him for losing the case. Another echo of some modern vexatious litigants is the spiral of secondary legislation - when he sued the Master of the Rolls over the Practising Certificate, he failed to get (the Victorian equivalent of) legal aid, so sued the Lord Chief Justice for that. When his action against the Master of the Rolls failed, he brought it all over again.

In the 1890s he started sending petitions to Parliament and individual members, then suing MPs, the Speaker, and the Clerk of Parliament for not granting them. He turned up at Parliament demanding to address the House, was denied access and, of course, sued for assault.

Taggart sums up, "By the mid-1890s, Chaffers had filed a raft of proceedings against ‘‘the great and the good’’ of Victorian society; including the Prince of Wales, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the present and former Lord Chancellors,the Master of the Rolls, a Lord Justice of Appeal, several High Court and County Court judges, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Treasury Solicitors, a Select Committee Clerk of the House of Commons, the trustees of the British Museum, and the Chief Commissioner of Police."

While there were other vexatious litigants operating at this time (Georginal Weldon remained in people's minds, for example) Chaffers was the main inspiration behind the Vexatious Litigants Act of 1897. It is therefore unsurprising that he was the first subject of it and the High Court heard the application the same year. Of course he appealed, but failed. Two years later he was dead, and buried in a pauper's grave.

In 1896, in one of the many cases where he tried to revive the Twiss case, one kindly judge advised him:

". . . he was getting an old man, and that he might as well let the action rest where it was. Sir Travers Twiss and Lady Twiss, whose names had been associated with the trial before the jury, were both dead, and the time was coming when Mr. Chaffers too, would be passing away. What was the good of keeping the matter up?"

Wise advice, that others might take, but like Chaffers, almost certainly won't.

[exiledscouser]

Obviously everyone in the RCJ can spot his distinctive prose, but in the absence of an Edward William Ellis Act 2021 (perhaps allowing strike-out if any court process uses the word “fraud” more than 15 times), that can’t be a ground for instant dismissal, in a way it could if he sued under his own name.

An EWE Act 2021? Bring it on! Schedule 1 could deal with the exploits of Nutty Neelu where we impose a personal Tier 5 and a (Santa) clause by way of a statutory instrument to scoop up Sov Cits yet to be discovered. Just have them declared “EWE compliant”.

This is exciting front-line judicial stuff, but alas, it’s about as likely to happen as MoB’s own adventure in legal-land.

[Dr. Caligari]

SpearGrass, thank you for that erudite response.

[notorial dissent]

Actually, committing him might be doing him a big favor since at that point he would get the medical care he needs. Some of his crazy may well be due to uremic poisoning from the kidney failure.

[AnOwlCalledSage]

Some of his crazy may well be due to uremic poisoning from the kidney failure.

Whilst it is heart-warming to see the continuing nature of Quatloos posters who try to look at some mitigating circumstances and give the benefit of the doubt in the face of staggering stupidity, alas there is no doubt.

EWE was crazy well before his relatively recent diagnosis. Granted it wouldn't have helped but he was struck off indefinitely in 2006. He was disbarred in 2013. His GCRO wasn't until 2018, which is why there might be a perception that it is sudden malady.

[notorial dissent]

I only said some of it, and I 'm quite sure he started out more than a little beam, this may have just acerbated it.

[Normal Wisdom]

Actually, committing him might be doing him a big favor since at that point he would get the medical care he needs. Some of his crazy may well be due to uremic poisoning from the kidney failure.

I saw from some of his recent paperwork that he is living in a B&B in Chelmsford. His only connection with the area is that he was receiving dialysis at nearby Broomfield Hospital so I imagine he is still getting the treatment he needs.

As others have said I think the crazy started a long time ago.

[MRN]

Some of his crazy may well be due to uremic poisoning from the kidney failure.

Whilst it is heart-warming to see the continuing nature of Quatloos posters who try to look at some mitigating circumstances and give the benefit of the doubt in the face of staggering stupidity, alas there is no doubt.

As you say. I think some of it, at least for me, I don't want to go ascribing bleeding-heart tendencies to others, is that quite a lot of the laughter is the horrified kind.

He is absolutely a heavy and unreasonable burden on the UK court system. He has most certainly dragged at least a few people whose only previous fault was to be desperate and, as most people are, largely ignorant of how the law and the courts work, into much deeper holes than they would have dug on their own. And he is probably a generally unpleasant person.

But it's still like watching a bird fly full-speed into a window, repeatedly. I don't even want to feel sorry for him, but I can't quite help it.

[AnOwlCalledSage]

He has most certainly dragged at least a few people whose only previous fault was to be desperate and, as most people are, largely ignorant of how the law and the courts work, into much deeper holes than they would have dug on their own.

His main shittiness has been, like Jackie "Phoenix", involving himself in family court matters. On the day of Neelu's eviction from Peel Drive, he was out the door like a shot at 6.30am because he had to get to Kingston Crown Court for such a case. That didn't go well.

He is a terrible person, which tempers any sympathy I have for his condition.

[notorial dissent]

You're not getting any argument from me. I suspect that he is a thoroughly nasty individual who caused further harm to come to otherwise desperate people, and he is an enormous sink hole of resources and time. I certainly can't imagine wanting to spend any time with him.

[exiledscouser]

These proceedings are therefore adjourned to a date to be notified. I remind Mr Ellis that he is still the subject of a GCRO. He must adhere to it. Any further breach is likely to make a material difference to the eventual sanction imposed.

With this dire warning echoing in his ears EWE retreated from court. Is it time now and finally for some humility? Perhaps a bit of restraint? Err....no.

Whatever your view of Eddie you'll have to agree that he is persistent, if nothing else.

In a missive dated 23rd December he kicks off with a christmasy plea for three fee remission certificates. Seems to me that finally The Man has been asking for a bob or two from Eddie and he's not for paying. That done its off we go with some seasonal incomprehensible verbiage;

The Contempt Claim Fraud 2020 000286 Restraint Renewal Fraud, Imprisonment Committal Liability Trial Fraud and the Restraint Renewal Fraud Appeals 2020 0396 Dismissal Fraud and the Imprisonment Committal Application Permission Fraud Appeal 2020 2069 Dismissal Fraud complete a Criminal Conspiracy Proof Set needed for Corruption Findings and Dismissal Decisions against Top Judges.

Well that's crystal clear. A happy Xmas to you too.

He then publishes the actual judgement of The Honourable HHJ Mrs Cutts DBE dated 18th December (which my lack of IT skills prevent me from producing here - a shame as they are quite damning) and it makes grim reading for fans of the Equity Lawyer. As well as 9 (that's nine) findings of contempt he has a separate 9 (that's another nine) applications dismissed and a further two refused, the last one refusing permission to appeal the nine dismissals and one refusal.

Oooooof! That's quite the stuffing of the Common Law Turkey. I make that 11 - 0 to The Man. Or Woman in this case. Anyone else would have thrown in the towel by now. But Eddie persists.

The court finally says this at the end of this rather savage judicial put-down;

The Respondent is warned that there is a real possibility of an immediate custodial sentence being imposed at the hearing to determine penalty.

What's a DBE? I think I once had a Vauxhall Astra DBE which had a go-faster stripe and a hole in the floor pan. Anyway, all of this provides the ideal opportunity for EWE to appeal that which is unappealable. So despite point 11 of HHJ Cutts' ruling of the 18th December he's nevertheless appaling sorry appealing;

* The GCRO
* Something something about a range of frauds and more frauds. You get the picture.
* The fact that the court would not provide him with transcripts at the public expense (hurray!)
* Seeking a personal liability Order against his nemesis State Counsel Mr. Eardley
* A long list of grievances against various NHS personnel who appear to be guilty of nothing more than doing their level best to keep EWE alive.
* A range of appeal denial frauds
* Proof burden substitution frauds
* A Puppet Master Misrepresentation fraud (no, really )
* Time Table frauds
* Reply sabotage frauds
* Restraint Breach finding + contempt finding pronouncement frauds
* Public seat allocation frauds

The above list is by no means exhaustive. His judicial brilliance knows no bounds. EWE alone secured the demise of our previous PM Mrs May (note to Eddie - beware of what you wish for - look at what we got as replacement!). His success in having a judge recuse himself is seen as a wholesale admission of fraud (what else) by the entire system so he wins.

He's down but not out!

[Pottapaug1938]

"DBE" is a "Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire", and the female counterpart of a KBE.

[John Uskglass]

In the 'EWE Mad or Bad?' debate, it was finding the red alert from Duncan Lewis I posted upthread that pushed me into the Bad camp.

Fraudulently linking himself to DL via solicitor.com site.

Implies malice aforethought.

[AnOwlCalledSage]

His success in having a judge recuse himself is seen as a wholesale admission of fraud (what else) by the entire system so he wins.

My reading of that was it was always Jay J is a team player. He thought to himself "We've got the bastard now. I'm not letting him get away with it on a technicality."

[SpearGrass]

As (almost) ever, I agree with the Owl, it would have been well beyond frustrating for Jay J to have heard the whole case, committed EWE and then some other judge had to do the whole thing again because EWE had been given a point on which he might succeed on appeal. I very much get the impression of judges proceeding with extreme caution in order to eliminate any possibility of an appeal.

Going back to Mr Chaffers, father of all vexatious litigants, his writ against the magistrate in the Twiss case was issued under the name of a firm of solicitors whose senior partner dashed straight round to the Court of Common Pleas, via a quick visit to the magistrate, in each case explaining that they were most certainly not involved. Makes you wonder about reincarnation, but surely Chaffers wouldn't be reinarcated as essentially the same person? Perhaps EWE is his ghost, like the shite (not pronounced the way you think) character in many noh plays. In a noh play the waki character would pray for his release, and he would disappear.

All High Court judges are knighted or damed on appointment, which is why Cutts J is a DBE.

[exiledscouser]

With apologies to Charles Clement Moore.

T’was the night before Christmas
When all through the house
Not a creature was stirring;
Not even a mouse.

The filings were filed
by the chimney in a tin
In hopes that The Appeal Court
Wouldn’t pop them in the bin

The clients were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of remedy danced in their heads.
And Neelu in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Having just written my latest; A huge pile of crap

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
To see a dialysis team prying open the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes did envision
A miraculous visit from the Royal Commission!

With the Prince Bishops back from their babysitting duties so quick
With Plod in pursuit to cart them off to the Nick.
And judicial rulings that for once all accord;
Farewell Mr Ellis; you foolish old fraud!

[aesmith]

This excerpt from his 24th December rant suggests one of his "customers" is starting to get concerned ...

At 21.18 on 23rd December 2020 Citizen Mr Taylor telephoned the Equity Lawyer and informed him of the Framing Fraud Investigation that started on Tuesday 21st December 2020. They discussed the both cases. At 21:32 a Witness Statement Request text from Citizen Mr Taylor to the Equity Lawyer reads, ‘Dear Edward Ellis. I request for the evidence of your case and how it impacts on mine. Yours Sincerely. Matthew Taylor’.

https://equitygovernance.uk/

The name "Taylor" crops up in some of EWE's earlier outpourings, but I can't make sense of the context at all. I'm not sure if that's the same Matt or Matthew Taylor who cropped up on Hoaxtead, for example ..

My predicament was made all the more dire when my solicitor Mr. Andy Horsman of Horsman Solicitors dumped me as a client, because I wished to call Equality lawyer Mr. Edward Ellis as my defence witness.

Or maybe this one ..
https://mrxinvestigations.home.blog/202 ... ual-needs/

[SpearGrass]

They're the same person. Hoaxtead has quite a lot on him. Very odd person of the truther persuasion, connected with many others on these pages. Spent a lot of time harassing the Police and Crime Commissioner of Sussex and that way connected with John Paterson, Brian Setchfield and others. Stood against the PCC in 2012, got hardly any votes and claimed to have won by a landslide. Tried to stand again in 2019 on a platform of building "a Hollywood studio, an island off Brighton and a moon base which would allow people to experience what it’s like to be on the moon" according to the Brighton Argus. But didn't actually stand at all when it came to it, probably because of his suspended prison sentence for contempt after the real PCC sued him for the harassment and obtained an injunction, which he broke: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-englan ... x-46026690 For the contempt hearing he attended court with John Paterson and was interviewed by the BBC outside the RCJ. For a few seconds he was very circumspect, then John Paterson wound him up and he broke the injunction within about 15 minutes of it being made.

Stood for Parliament in 2015 - 64 votes.

He was later one of the first people in the country to get a Stalking Protection Order.Does some incredibly weird pieces to camera: yelling "I'm the daddy" at fellow truther Chris Spivy (don't get me started) and a bulging eyed piece where he whispers "I'm coming to get you ..." A dedicated faller outer with former friends, was IN with Andy Devine (friend of John Paterson, Neelu Berry, EWE, John Wanoa etc) and is now OUT, for example.

The Sussex PCC summarises him quite nicely: 'He initially started as a sort of warrior for justice, a keyboard warrior. But it became very obsessive and quite intense.. the “wake-up call” was when he “stepped out from behind the keyboard” and into the “physical world”'.

[aesmith]

Still apparently taking on new cases, presumably he'll continue to offend until he's locked up, or too ill ...

January 8, 2021
Ellis Edward

To: House of Commons Speaker, Prime Minister, Cabinet Officers, Privy Counsellors, MPs, State Lawyers and Law Court Judges
On 7th January 2021 a Telephone Call from the Landlord Lawyers gave Citizen Mr Hastunc that a Lease Claim F02ED793 Secret Possession Hearing had got a Possession Order and a Vacant Possession Demand.

Citizen Mr Hastunc agreed to make a New Corruption Evidence Witness Statement for Remedy Applications by the Equity Lawyer in the Contempt Claim Fraud 2020 000286 and the Fraud Appeals.

https://equitygovernance.uk

[John Uskglass]

The Worst Risk in the Protection Fraud Market was that Protection Procurers trade Corruption Investigation Co-operation that gets Protection Fraud Proof against Providers in exchange for Immunity Terms. They control the Investigation Risk by imposing Fraud Commitment Proof from the Fraud Procurer before the Protection Fraud Supply.

Ah, one thinks, he's tipped over the edge, that's incoherent even by his standards. Must be really ill. But then comes:

The Contempt 2020 000286 Restraint Frauds are intended to prevent the Equity Lawyer providing Case Management for Corruption Victims including Citizen Mr Hastunc. The Restraint Frauds cannot prevent the production of New Evidence Notices and Witness Statements that explain the Remedy Applications they support. The Corruption Victims can use the Witness Statements to support Remedy Applications in their own cases. The Restraint Frauds are intended to prevent Case Management by the Equity Lawyer but cannot prevent Witness Statements and Witness Testimony by the Corruption Victims

And it becomes clear that he's a determined little weasel, trying to skirt round the ruling in his recent case. Still, for light relief, we have his closing remarks:

Citizen Mr Hastunc relies on Interpretation Services from Citizen Mr Hastunc. He understands the music of the English Language but sometimes makes Technical Errors. He does the best he can.