From Wiki:

A Manufacturer Statement of Origin (MSO) is a document of ownership, usually related to a motor vehicle. Libertarian Congressional Canididate Michael Badnarik teaches a class on Constitutional law which refers to allodial title and uses the MSO as an example to demonstrate that the state is a co-owner of your automobile since they typically possess the MSO. According to Badnarik, in the United States, you do not completely own a vehicle unless you possess this statement, but if you do possess this statement you have allodial title to it and do not owe registration fees or taxes. Badnarik does not clarify if this is his view of how the law is, in the abstract, or how he would predict an actual judge interpreting the law --- but Badnarik is not given to legal realism, so the former is entirely possible.

In short, he claims that every new car is (co-)owned by the government, and the car "title" does not denote the owner of the car, only the person who is allowed to use it. The real document that determines ownership is the "Manufacturer's Statement of Origin" (MSO), which the car dealership mails to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in the process of getting the title. So apparently, you couldn't have both the MSO and the title. But it does look like you could get the MSO fairly easily when buying a new car since they are under no legal obligation to surrender tat document. I wonder how anyone would explain to the traffic officer why you do not have a title for your car and that you don't need one because you have this other document instead.

Labels: Logic