The final version of my article Sealand, HavenCo, and the Rule of Law is now live at the University of Illinois Law Review’s site. Since roughly this time last year, two things have happened to it. First, it’s received a truly careful editing job from the Law Review’s staff. Max DeLeon (the lead article editor on the piece) and Brittany Viola (the editor-in-chief) went above and beyond the call of duty, checking and rechecking the details, calling me out on anything that wasn’t properly supported or didn’t read well. Sometimes I carp about the law-review system, but there are times that it works well, and when it works well, it works like this.
Second, I’ve been able to examine several thousand pages of Sealand-related files from the United Kingdom’s National Archives. The government’s files from the most important periods in Sealand’s history have all been opened for public access, and they shed significant light on how it is that Roy Bates and his family have been able to remain in possession of Sealand for so long. The article now contains a detailed reconstruction of the bureaucratic fumbling that helped Roy Bates transform himself into a comedic folk hero in 1967 and 1968. It also tells a more complete history of the bizarre “coup” of 1978, including some darkly hilarious behind-the-scenes international diplomacy.
Please check it out. I hope you have at least half as much fun reading it as I had writing it. And stay tuned for some further Sealand-related news …