When I was in High School (about 1960) I remember a civics teacher talking about customary enforcement of laws. According to him, if a law is customarily ignored, the authorities cannot begin enforcing it without first giving notice and if it is enforced in one way, it cannot be enforced in a different way such that a person knowing the usual procedure would be charged with a violation because of the change unless there is notice of the change. I have been trying to find legal references to support these claims without success. I have access to a very small law library and full access to Lexis-Nexis, but I have only used it where I had a cite to start with. Where should I start looking?
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Laws generally ignored
- Thread Starter robeyw
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cbg
Super Moderator
What law are you claiming is generally ignored and that cannot be enforced?
fredrikklaw
Moderator
Ignoring it won't make it unenforceable!
Robeyw:
With all due respect to your civic teacher and his/her teaching, the reason you have not been able to find any references to "customarily ignored" laws and the effects on their subsequent enforcement is because there is no such a concept; well, at least not within the annals of the American Jurisprudence as such a concept would reduce the entire legislative process and intent to nothing more than idle ceremony and window dressing.
Such a concept, however, does exist and it is discussed at length and in depth within the confines of International Law and the Law of International Organizations.
And as for the validity of any subsequent enforcement of a customarily ignored law, the best example that I can come up with would be highway driving and the speed limit; boy, talk about a law (speed limit) that is not only customarily, but also routinely, universally, and daily ignored to such a huge degree that we feel unfairly victimized and prejudiced against when trapped and ticketed by the highway patrol. Now, the speed limit laws have been ignored and broken since they were first incepted and they continue to be ignored and broken overtly and as a matter of course by every single one us at any given time.
So, does the fact that hundreds of thousands of drivers ignore the speed limit make it null and void and unenforceable as a matter of law? Of course, not!
But all said and done, that is just my two cents, but you have at your fingertips perhaps THE best and most powerful legal research tool ever created, namely Lexis-Nexis and if I were to suggest a cite to start your search on, it would be this https://www.law.kuleuven.be/iir/nl/onderzoek/wp/WP25e.pdf.
Happy Researching,
fredrikklaw
Robeyw:
With all due respect to your civic teacher and his/her teaching, the reason you have not been able to find any references to "customarily ignored" laws and the effects on their subsequent enforcement is because there is no such a concept; well, at least not within the annals of the American Jurisprudence as such a concept would reduce the entire legislative process and intent to nothing more than idle ceremony and window dressing.
Such a concept, however, does exist and it is discussed at length and in depth within the confines of International Law and the Law of International Organizations.
And as for the validity of any subsequent enforcement of a customarily ignored law, the best example that I can come up with would be highway driving and the speed limit; boy, talk about a law (speed limit) that is not only customarily, but also routinely, universally, and daily ignored to such a huge degree that we feel unfairly victimized and prejudiced against when trapped and ticketed by the highway patrol. Now, the speed limit laws have been ignored and broken since they were first incepted and they continue to be ignored and broken overtly and as a matter of course by every single one us at any given time.
So, does the fact that hundreds of thousands of drivers ignore the speed limit make it null and void and unenforceable as a matter of law? Of course, not!
But all said and done, that is just my two cents, but you have at your fingertips perhaps THE best and most powerful legal research tool ever created, namely Lexis-Nexis and if I were to suggest a cite to start your search on, it would be this https://www.law.kuleuven.be/iir/nl/onderzoek/wp/WP25e.pdf.
Happy Researching,
fredrikklaw
To paraphrase fredrikklaw, "the concept that historical failure to enforce a law effects the ability to subsequently enforce them would reduce the entire legislative process and intent to nothing more than idle ceremony and window dressing."
It seems to me that it is the failure to enforce the law that would reduce the entire legislative process and intent to nothing more than idle ceremony and window dressing and that actual enforcement serves as notice of what will be enforced, and how. I think the comments of the Civics teacher can be understood as a requirement for notice. If the speed limit is 60 mph and the historical record shows that speeding citations showing a speed of less than 66 MPH are rare, I suspect that a police officer writing a citation for traveling at 61 mph has some motive other than writing the speeding ticket. In my view the driver would be justified in feeling trapped, unfairly victimized and prejudiced against, but showing selective prosecution requires showing the motive of the officer. If historical enforcement served as notice of the law in force, the person would be found not guilty of speeding.
It seems to me that it is the failure to enforce the law that would reduce the entire legislative process and intent to nothing more than idle ceremony and window dressing and that actual enforcement serves as notice of what will be enforced, and how. I think the comments of the Civics teacher can be understood as a requirement for notice. If the speed limit is 60 mph and the historical record shows that speeding citations showing a speed of less than 66 MPH are rare, I suspect that a police officer writing a citation for traveling at 61 mph has some motive other than writing the speeding ticket. In my view the driver would be justified in feeling trapped, unfairly victimized and prejudiced against, but showing selective prosecution requires showing the motive of the officer. If historical enforcement served as notice of the law in force, the person would be found not guilty of speeding.
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