Well there's nothing in the VA Constitution specifically authorizing the Legislature to outlaw prostitution, or beastiality for that matter, and the VA General Assembly does it.
Where do they get their authority to do so?
424 H.Akston
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The State of Va gets its power to write criminal law from its 'police power', hughie.
428 tpaine
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Dead Corpse wrote:
Superior firepower and the complacency of the People.
Just because they do it, does not make it right, legal, ethical or just.
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Exactly DC..
We allow States to infringe upon our most basic rights on small matters like 'outlawing' prostitution, -- and the next thing we know, complacent clowns like hughie, robbie & mith get the insane idea they have the power to prohibit guns.
Weird people.
Which, oddly enough, is more than enough justification to go out and buy another case of ammo. As they say, "the Second Amendment protects all the rest..."
When are you going to sue West Virginia for making this law?
§61-8-5. Houses of ill fame and assignation; penalties; jurisdiction of courts.
(b) Any person who shall engage in prostitution, lewdness, or assignation, or who shall solicit, induce, entice, or procure another to commit an act of prostitution, lewdness, or assignation; or who shall reside in, enter, or remain in any house, place, building, hotel, tourist camp, or other structure, or enter or remain in any vehicle, trailer, or other conveyance for the purpose of prostitution, lewdness, or assignation; or who shall aid, abet, or participate in the doing of any of the acts herein prohibited, shall, upon conviction for the first offense under this section, be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not less than sixty days nor more than six months, and by a fine of not less than fifty dollars and not to exceed one hundred dollars; and upon conviction for the second offense under this section, be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a period of not less than six months nor more than one year, and by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars and not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars, and upon conviction for any subsequent offense under this section shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than one year nor more than three years.
You probably don't realize it, tpaine, but the police power in WV is delegated to the State by the people in their Constitution.
These words right here:
"Among the powers so reserved to the states is the exclusive regulation of their own internal government and police;" - Article I-2
are in their Constitution.
The people of WV delegated, specifically, not even implied, the police power to their state.
Here's another teaching point. When you said:
"No State has ever been given the power to dictate prohibitions on 'sinful behaviors' or on 'evil objects'."
That in itself was an absurd statement, since the definition of those things are so subjective, plus it's patently false, since the States actually do have the power to outlaw beastiality and cruelty to animals, which I'm sure you've heard about, which perhaps even you would consider "sinful". Perhaps.
And the WV Constitution also permits the State to outlaw things that it and it's people decide aren't virtuous enough to have around:
"3-20. Preservation of free government.
Free government and the blessings of liberty can be preserved to any people only by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue, and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles."
So if prostitution is not virtuous, in the opinion of the State of West Virginia's people, representatives, and judges, their State has yet even more latitude to outlaw prostitution.
And that gets to my earlier point. What you think about prostitution, is utterly irrelevant to another state. That's why you'll lose when you take VA, NC, SC and WV to court for outlawing prostitution. But please let me know when you file. I want to watch the circus. I love to watch busybodies get shut down. (as you can tell)
Now were you trying to make some sort of "point"?