06-24-2003, 05:47 PM
Lawyers don't take laws off of books.
Legislators do.
It's generally not a high priority for most legislators.
Laws can also be struck down by courts. To do that, you have to get a court to consider the Constitutionality of the law. This involves bringing a case by someone who was harmed by the law in question. (In Federal court and in most states, courts are not allowed to give "advisory opinions"; there must be an actual case involving the law in question).
Since many out-of-date or even unconstitutional laws are never enforced by prosecutors, they do not result in cases where courts can invalidate the law. And legislators don't generally spend time updating the codes.
Net result: Lots of unenforced, mostly meaningless laws.
Note that even unenforced laws can cause problems. Joseph Landaud just had an article in the New Republic about unintended consequences of anti-gay laws, and Christopher Leslie had a recent law review article on the subject as well.
Legislators do.
It's generally not a high priority for most legislators.
Laws can also be struck down by courts. To do that, you have to get a court to consider the Constitutionality of the law. This involves bringing a case by someone who was harmed by the law in question. (In Federal court and in most states, courts are not allowed to give "advisory opinions"; there must be an actual case involving the law in question).
Since many out-of-date or even unconstitutional laws are never enforced by prosecutors, they do not result in cases where courts can invalidate the law. And legislators don't generally spend time updating the codes.
Net result: Lots of unenforced, mostly meaningless laws.
Note that even unenforced laws can cause problems. Joseph Landaud just had an article in the New Republic about unintended consequences of anti-gay laws, and Christopher Leslie had a recent law review article on the subject as well.