stanwyck@ihlpa.UUCP (Don Stanwyck) (05/16/85)
> ****************************************************************************** > > > > Here is the example. Here in Colorado, it is against the law to sell liquor > > (and automobiles) retail on Sunday. > > Laws of this sort have been challenged in the past (it seems to me > that the last time was sometime in the 1930's--I don't remember which state). > They were held to be constitutional under the states' powers to regulate > commerce. They also argued (successfully) that the choice of Sunday was not > religiously motivated but the choice the would cause the least disruption > considering the number of people who don't work on that day anyway. > It is now illegal (within the last 90 days) to sell cars/other-motor-vehicles on Sunday in Illinois. The discussions at the time the law was being argued did not ever seem to discuss the issues of church. They proponants (largely car salesmen) said that allowing the dealers to stay open seven days made all dealers stay open seven days in order to remain competitive, and since car salesmen are almost exclusively commission-only paid, this meant that most car salespeople were having to work seven days a week. Thus the car salespeople made it into a labor vs. management issue. It has started its way up through the courts, but every court up through the Illinois Supreme Court has found it legal so far. It is being enforced - a motor home dealer in a local community was cited and forced to close after complaints were called in recently. Apparently he didn't realize that no cars meant no motor homes either. The courts have been saying that it properly falls into a states right to regulate commerce issue.
sophie@mnetor.UUCP (Sophie Quigley) (05/17/85)
> It is now illegal (within the last 90 days) to sell cars/other-motor-vehicles > on Sunday in Illinois. The discussions at the time the law was being argued > did not ever seem to discuss the issues of church. They proponants (largely > car salesmen) said that allowing the dealers to stay open seven days made all > dealers stay open seven days in order to remain competitive, and since car > salesmen are almost exclusively commission-only paid, this meant that most > car salespeople were having to work seven days a week. Thus the car salespeople > made it into a labor vs. management issue. > It seems to me that the obvious solution to this problem is to make it illegal for car dealers to be open more than 6 days a week while leaving the decision of which day to be closed up to each business. I guess that would be harder to inforce though than the current law. -- Sophie Quigley {allegra|decvax|ihnp4|linus|watmath}!utzoo!mnetor!sophie
ben@moncol.UUCP (Bennett Broder) (05/17/85)
>It is now illegal (within the last 90 days) to sell cars/other-motor-vehicles >on Sunday in Illinois. The discussions at the time the law was being argued >did not ever seem to discuss the issues of church. They proponants (largely >car salesmen) said that allowing the dealers to stay open seven days made all >dealers stay open seven days in order to remain competitive, and since car >salesmen are almost exclusively commission-only paid, this meant that most >car salespeople were having to work seven days a week. Thus the car salespeople >made it into a labor vs. management issue. I have the answer!!! Make it illegal for a business to stay open 7 days a week. Don't specify a particular day, though. That way, the employees will have their day off, customers will be able to purchase merchandise whenever they want to, and nobody will be able to complain about separation of church and state. Surprised nobody thought of that one, eh? Ben Broder ..ihnp4!princeton!moncol!ben ..vax135!petsd!moncol!ben
bob@vaxwaller.UUCP (Bob Palin) (05/20/85)
> > I have the answer!!! Make it illegal for a business to stay open 7 > days a week. Don't specify a particular day, though. That way, > the employees will have their day off, customers will be able to > purchase merchandise whenever they want to, and nobody will be able to > complain about separation of church and state. Surprised nobody > thought of that one, eh? > > Ben Broder > ..ihnp4!princeton!moncol!ben > ..vax135!petsd!moncol!ben Somebody did think of that before, it's the case in England or at least used to be. Every town had a day called half day closing day which was just that, stores had to be closed for half of that day. This was not based on any religious basis just on allowing the workers time to shop. This practice seems to have declined though I don't know if the laws were repealed or just not enforced. This was also the day on which the town market was open so it was probably a very old practice. Almost nothing is open on Sunday presumably due to some ancient religious principle, you can't even sell tickets to sporting events, instead temporary club memberships are sold for one day only ! Bob Palin, Varian Instruments, Walnut Creek, Ca. ( formerly of Luton Town, Bedfordshire, England )
atkins@opus.UUCP (Brian Atkins) (05/20/85)
>It is now illegal (within the last 90 days) to sell cars/other-motor-vehicles >on Sunday in Illinois. The discussions at the time the law was being argued >did not ever seem to discuss the issues of church. They proponants (largely >car salesmen) said that allowing the dealers to stay open seven days made all >dealers stay open seven days in order to remain competitive, and since car >salesmen are almost exclusively commission-only paid, this meant that most >car salespeople were having to work seven days a week. Thus the car >salespeople made it into a labor vs. management issue. > >It has started its way up through the courts, but every court up through the >Illinois Supreme Court has found it legal so far. It is being enforced - a >motor home dealer in a local community was cited and forced to close after >complaints were called in recently. Apparently he didn't realize that no cars >meant no motor homes either. > >The courts have been saying that it properly falls into a states right to >regulate commerce issue. Why did they not choose Tuesday, or some other day when consumers are less likely to want to shop for cars? Brian Atkins ...{attunix, hao, allegra, ucbvax}!nbires!atkins NBI Inc., P.O. Box 9001, Boulder CO 80301 (303) 444-5710