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Reviving Dead-Letter Statutes

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 19, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 33.

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Reviving Dead-Letter Statutes

By W. A. C.

A WRITER to the Rumford Falls (Maine) Times, in an open letter to the county attorney, calls attention to the injustice of enforcing the State Sunday law upon some and not upon other violators of it in a recent crusade in that place, which he says he is convinced the attorney was influenced to start “by the mistaken zeal of certain men representing the Civic League.” Referring to the long disuse and “dead-letter” condition of these statutes that some are now seeking to revive, he says:—
“Upon the statute-books of this and many other States there are certain laws, enacted long ago, that for various reasons have become dead-letters, and yet not repealed. That is the case with certain laws in Maine, known as the Sunday laws. These laws gradually, and perhaps one at a time, as the social and business interests of the various communities demand, were allowed to fall into oblivion. All over the State the major portion of the laws regarding personal conduct on Sunday have long been forgotten, and by public opinion repealed, although still on the statute-book. The part of the law that prohibits travel, recreation, and work in factories on Sunday has not been enforced in this State within the memory of the oldest inhabitant, and in such communities as require it, that part which prohibits stores from doing business has also been disregarded.”
The “Civic League” in this case is no doubt a “religious league” seeking to revive a dead or slumbering religious law, for the purpose of enforcing the observance of a religious institution by the power of the state. All such laws should be repealed, and all such “leagues” discouraged in seeking to revive and enforce them.
It may be reported with satisfaction that at a mass-meeting held at Rumford Falls shortly after the open letter above referred to was written, the citizens of the place passed a resolution, by an almost unanimous vote, calling for the repeal of the Sunday laws now on the statute-books of the State.
W. A. C.