Why are we even considering a ~180 yr old law as something relevant today?
I'm glad I think that this seems to be good news but it's absolutely insane to me that it's based on a decision older than some states.
this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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For better or worse, laws apply from when they are enacted to when they are repealed or superseded. (Repealed includes laws with clauses that state it only applies for X years or that it needs to be renewed every Y years and the law doesn't get renewed.)
That being said, there are all too often laws that are technically applicable but whose usefulness has long since passed. In these cases, the law still applies but the state legislature needs to pass a bill to repeal it (or supersede it).
Why are we even considering a ~180 yr old law as something relevant today?
How old do you think murder laws are?
Point made but those laws would be passed unanimously no matter the year, nobody wants to be murdered. Better point would be decency laws where it's crazy that men can be topless but women can't. Those laws are old too.
Okay, but you'll find that some laws are a bit more controversial than murder being bad.
Exhibit A: points vigorously all around
Those kind of obsolete laws tend to not be enforced either, and thrown out if they ever are, so it's not really a significant problem. It's important for economic and social stability that the law have some amount of stability and that we're not constantly revamping everything every decade or so.
Fun fact: it’s actually legal for women to be topless in New York due to a lawsuit over this very issue.
Yes, but abortion is also legal in some places that's why I used that as a better example.
I mean, you say "it's obvious" but we don't know it to be true unless people vote on it. "Obvious" to you can be "controversial" to somebody else (e.g. it depends on who is being killed and why).
There are many laws older than 100 years that we keep for good reason. Most of the US constitution, theft, land rights, etc. There's absolutely no reason to think negatively about a law simply based on how "old" it is. If people change their minds over time we pass new laws to reflect that. That's "how it works". You can't simply say "bah, that's an old weird law lets ignore it now."
Laws older than that are constantly referenced, e.g. the Constitution.
Seems simpler for the good people of Wisconsin to just vote on a new law that says whatever they think is proper. Obstetric science has advanced somewhat since the time when Ignaz Semmelweis first proposed doctors washing their hands before delivering babies (especially if they'd just come form the cadaver lab), so some of the reasoning behind the 1849 law might be out of date.
Unfortunately, that would require certain politicians to go on record about something that might be used against them if they later ran a national campaign, so better to let the court take the matter out of their hands and (mis-?)interpret an old law in a politically advantageous way.
Sadly as a past resident of Wisconsin referendum votes are nonbinding and the Republican held house and Senate ignore them and the people of Wisconsin.
If it wasn't the case they would have had legal cannabis long ago.
The gerrymandered state is so frustrating and is barely resisting a further descent into regressive policy by a decent governor.
Most of these people think that a book from 2000 years ago has valid ideas for today’s world. So, 180 isn’t much of a stretch at all.
And funny thing about that book, not only does it never even approach condemning abortion it gives explicit instructions how to perform one with a potion that can detect if a woman cheated as one of the only times it's mentioned
A potion to detect cheating? That’s hilarious!
Well. It "detects" it in the same way a trial by fire detects guilt.
Supposedly if she cheated then she will miscarry. Otherwise, no effect. Fun to imagine all of the women who had to endure the "guilt" thrust upon them by random chance because people believed in magic.
In fairness the 2nd half of that book is pretty damn good, it's just a shame that they don't actually practice it.