mam@charm.UUCP (Matthew Marcus) (11/07/84)
[cop> - - - - - - [me> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (destination)
A thought for the assembled masses:
What should the status be of a law which is habitually disobeyed by a large
fraction of those to whom it applies? Examples: 55mph, Prohibition, the Bell
Labs General Executive Instruction forbidding "profanity" under pain of
dismissal, the various copyright laws which are routinely broken with copiers
and VCRs.
It seems to me that a law which is broken so much of the time is in
some fundamental way sick, and should be re-thought. Just a thought...
{BTL}!charm!mam "One false move and I copy your book!"
((apologies if you've seen this before; I suspect that it didn't make it
very far down the net last time))robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (11/08/84)
In article <545@charm.UUCP> mam@charm.UUCP (Matthew Marcus) writes: >[cop> - - - - - - [me> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (destination) > > A thought for the assembled masses: > >What should the status be of a law which is habitually disobeyed by a large >fraction of those to whom it applies? In general the status of such laws is that since they are on the books, they can be successfully enforced, even selectively. Obviously such cases breed contempt for government, when people are aware of them. The following were illegal in New York City in the 1950's, according to "blue laws" enforced only very selectively: - Operating any elevator, except for certain genuine emergencies. - Opening a store to sell anything, except for medicines and a few necessaries. - operating a public vehicle ( I think). - Toby Robison (not Robinson!) allegra!eosp1!robison or: decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison or (emergency): princeton!eosp1!robison