p. 6 | The Exemption Clause Fallacy

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 21, 1908

The Exemption Clause Fallacy

In the Sunday Observance Act of the Quebec Legislature, there is an exemption clause which provides that any one “who habitually and conscientiously observes the seventh day of the week as a Sabbath day, and actually abstains from work on that day, shall not be punished for having worked on the first day of the week, if such work do not disturb other persons in the observance of the first day of the week as a holy day.” An observer of the seventh day was recently arrested at South Stukely, P. Q., charged with having performed work on Sunday contrary to law, and the case was tried at Waterloo, P. Q., before Judge Mulvena. During the trial one of the witnesses, a Roman Catholic, testified that he was “spiritually disturbed” by the defendant in the performance of his work, and another testified that the work caused him “mental annoyance.” In the decision Judge Mulvena said:—

The whole question, to my mind, turns on the meaning to be given to the word “disturb.” One of the witnesses for the prosecution swears that the work carried on by the defendant on Sundays disturbed him “spiritually.” Another swears that it caused him “mental annoyance.” Others that it did not bother them at all. I can not see that the context of clause six allows any other meaning to be put upon the word “disturb” than is the obvious every-day meaning. It must necessarily mean material disturbance,—the hindering of or interfering with other people in the discharge of their religious duties, by noise, or some other tangible interference, and in the present case there is no proof whatever of anything of that kind.

This case emphasizes two things: first, that even a clear and comprehensive exemption clause does not prevent any person from being arrested and subjected to the expense of trial for an alleged violation of the Sunday law. Second, that those who prosecute alleged violators of the Sunday law are often afflicted with mental dishonesty, and do not hesitate to give to ordinary words a new and unusual meaning in order, if possible, to secure conviction. In this particular case, the presiding judge would not permit the law to be interpreted contrary to its obvious meaning, and the complaint was dismissed.

The exemption clause which has been

inserted in one of the proposed Sunday laws for the District of Columbia is the same in effect as the one in the Sunday Observance Act of the Quebec Legislature; and if the bill should become a law, even those who are expressly exempted from the provisions of this act, are still liable to arrest and trial.

This experience in Canada shows the use which religious bigotry can make of legislation designed to enforce a religious observance in persecuting even those who are plainly exempt from the penalties of the law. A Sunday law is always an infringement upon religious liberty.