Posted on 04/29/2013 6:27:33 AM PDT by MichCapCon
A man seducing and corrupting the moral purity of an unmarried woman is a felony with possible prison time. Displaying a sports team bumper sticker without being a member of the organization is a misdemeanor. Throwing a few bucks into the office college basketball tournament pool is illegal gambling. And playing the national anthem for people to dance to is prohibited.
Though routinely broken and ignored by citizens and government officials, these laws and more are on the books in Michigan. In fact, there are so many statutes in the state code that it is likely every resident would be considered a criminal if the codes actually were prosecuted.
State and federal laws are being added so quickly that the average citizen commits three felonies per day and cannot possibly figure them all out, said attorney Harvey Silverglate.
“Many laws are indeed routinely broken,” he said. “Since no individual can keep track of what is illegal, every citizen is in danger of being singled out for prosecution simply because he or she has come within the sights of a law enforcement official. This makes us all vulnerable to official power.”
Silverglate is the author of the book, “Three Felonies A Day,” and estimates that there are 4,000 federal criminal statues with countless more state and local regulations.
In Michigan, some of these laws seem crazy, archaic or both.
Authorities would have to prosecute within a year, but if they do, Section 532 of an early 1930s law criminalizes "any man who shall seduce and debauch any unmarried woman." The act is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison or a $2,500 fine.
Michigan’s law regarding the national anthem is Act 328 of 1931. It prevents the “Star Spangled Banner” from being “played, sung or otherwise rendered … except as an entire and separate composition or number and without embellishments … nor be played as a part or selection of a medley of any kind … nor be played for dancing or as an exit march.”
Another statute involves low-level gambling. Though state law allows an exception for card games played at home in which there is no money taken by the house, it remains mostly illegal to make monetary bets — even on minor things. While an estimated 50 million Americans fill out March Madness brackets, those putting money in a pool are breaking state law, which prohibits betting on college sports.
"From a legal standpoint, gambling is still illegal, although I think that generally enforcement turns a blind eye to these things,” Travis Dafoe, a Saginaw County lawyer, told MLive in March. And the federal government has been known to warn its employees against taking part in betting on the basketball tournament.
Meanwhile, unless they are lucky enough to be a professional athlete and a member of the team, Michigan citizens with Detroit Tigers bumper stickers should also be cautious. The state has a law for the “Protection of Names and Emblems” (Act 269 of 1929), making it a misdemeanor crime for a person to display an emblem or insignia of any group on their vehicle unless they are actually a member.
The statute reads: “It shall be unlawful for any person to display or permit to be displayed on his or her motor vehicle any emblem or insignia of any organization, association, fraternity, lodge, club or order, unless the owner of such motor vehicle be a member of the organization … which is so displayed.”
Other acts prohibited in the state include having an unlicensed dog (the sheriff is required to kill the animal), adultery (a felony), mocking a person for refusing to duel, exhibiting deformed human beings, marrying an inmate girl from the Adrian training school without the permission of the superintendent, and cursing or blasphemy.
And while these may sound crazy, some are occasionally prosecuted.
In 1998, a man dubbed the “cussing canoeist” was convicted of violating a 105-year-old law for swearing after he fell out of a canoe on the Rifle River. The 1897 statute “prohibited using indecent, immoral, vulgar or insulting language in the presence or hearing of women or children.” While the ACLU eventually had the law struck down by the Court of Appeals, a separate Court of Appeals case from 1996 held that “the fact that a statute has not been recently enforced does not mean that it has been repealed de facto.” The case, Stopera v. DiMarco, cited Washtenaw Co. Rd Comm'rs v. Public Service Comm. (1957), which stated “statutes do not wither by disuse.”
Many of the laws on the books in Michigan may be considered unconstitutional if ever actually prosecuted. And while the regulations are mostly forgotten, ignored or unknown, there they sit for whenever the state or another citizen wants to go after someone.
“An excess of laws is very bad for society,” Silverglate said. “It saps the vitality of a state or nation for citizens to have to spend so much time figuring out if they may or may not take a certain action — with a misjudgment at their peril.”
And that’s just in Dearborn.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” is a 32-bar minuet, so one might be tempted to dance to it.
Well if you can’t seduce a woman by dancing to the national anthem, what’s the point.
yes please.
Instead of state legislatures spending their time enacting some very stupid laws, why don’t they take a couple of sessions and get rid of the ones that are unconstitutional, out of date, or just plain inane?
They could repeal two laws for every one they enact.
“In fact, there are so many statutes in the state code that it is likely every resident would be considered a criminal if the codes actually were prosecuted.”
That is exactly what the totalitarians want. They already know that we are all criminals who are guilty of ‘something’ and are slowly changing the laws so that we all will be.....criminals.
“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted and you create a nation of law-breakers — and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system.”
Quote by: Ayn Rand
(1905-1982) Author
Source: “Atlas Shrugged”, Part II, Chapter 3
If only we had more and more laws we would be a perfect people....
Instead of state legislatures spending their time enacting some very stupid laws, why don’t they take a couple of sessions and get rid of the ones that are unconstitutional, out of date, or just plain inane?
They could repeal two laws for every one they enact.
Holy Crap Batman, they would be so busy going over the crappy laws all the previous sessions, when would they find time to pass more newer crappier laws ?????
I agree 2/3 of ANY legislative body should be spent going over OLD laws and only 1/3 looking at NEW laws, maybe vut that ratio down to 3/4 OLD / 1/4 NEW....
“A man seducing and corrupting the moral purity of an unmarried woman is a felony with possible prison time.”
Yikes! Corrupting the moral purity of an unmarried woman sounds like a fun weekend activity for me back when I was single! How would I know I wanted to marry an unmarried woman unless I had corrupted her moral purity a few times?
Reminds me of a Steve Martin joke...
“I’m not into that one night thing. I feel you should get to know someone, maybe fall in love..... before you USE and DEGRADE them.”
****“Three Felonies A Day,” and estimates that there are 4,000 federal criminal statues with countless more state and local regulations. ****
And you automatically loose your rights to own guns. This is how they will begin confiscation.
Strangest Michigan laws I recall when living there:
-Despite the presence of bar code scanning systems for a couple of decades, all items in a supermarket must also have a printed price tag on them. And if that price does not agree with what scans, the customer is entitled to ten times the difference, up to a maximum of five dollars (*since repealed)
-Fat people are a “protected class” under the State Constitution (a lady pressed her case that she was being discriminated against for being charged more for XXL sizes, and she won!)
-It is illegal to own a ferret (someone imported them in the late 1800’s to hunt something or other and apparently the ferrets hunted it into extinction)
Also the only state I’ve been in that charged me an additional entrance fee, over and above my state tax bill, to enter a state park.
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