Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1902-04-09
LAWS THAT ARE LAPSED
THERE SEEMS TO BE NO END TO
SUPERFLUoUS LEGISLATION.

The American Has to Obey More Laws
Than Does a Citizen of Amy Other
Country This Multiplicity of Laws
Great Boon to the Many Lawyers.
To be a law-abiding American citi-
zen requires more Of an effort than
is expected of the citizens Of any
other country on the face Of the
map of the world.
Not only does the American have to
obey more laws. but he has more
law-making bodies than any other
country. He has his congress, the
state legislatures and municipal bo..
dies, all of which have power to make
laws and enforce them.
No lawyer knows how many laws
there are IN the state of Louisiana, for
instance, much less how many laws
there are in the United States. When
ever question is submitted to a
lawyer about the simplest proposition,
it requires three or four days of stren-
uous investigation before he is stle
to form an opinion as to what the
legislature did do or intended to do,
and even then it is not a certainty
that the law is as the lawyer thinks
it is.
There are about ID, 1000 ordinances in
force in the city of New Orleans alone.
How many thousand laws there are
in the state no living man can tell.
Citizens expectorating on the side
walk are violating a law. Citizens
throwing refuse into the streets are
violating a law Motormen running
their cars faster than six miles an
hour violate an ordinance. Trains
which block a crossing longer than
five minutes violate the law. People
driving horses rapidly on any of the
streets can be arrested by the police
and fined. Men or women lingering
on the street corners are guilty of a
misdemeanor 1t is a penitentiary Of
fense to open letter without stamp
on it, which is addressed to another.
1t is a penitentiary offense to open a
letter addressed to another under any
circumstances. 1t is an offense to sell
goods on Sunday. Gambling and lot
terry games are crimes. Taking money
from another for the purpose of shield
ing him or his business is very ser
ious crime. It is a misdemeanor for
a farmer to permit his hogs to run at
large in certain districts.
The list might be prolonged indefl-
nitely. 1t would fill a strip of paper
as wide as the ordinary railroad track
and reaching from New York to Hong
kong.
Lawyers say that there is hardly a
man in this republic who does not at
some time during the year violate
some law, state, national or city. The
reason why so few arrests are made
is that most Of these statutes are
more honored in disuse than in their
rigid enforcement.
Laws are changed with every sue
ceeding session of the legislature. AS
great a lawyer as Mr.. kruttschnitt
said he did not believe person could
take the statute books Of 1855, or
about that time, and find a single law
which is in force today as it was thel.
The beginning of many of the present
laws are there, but they have been
amended and amended until they have
completely lost their original shape
AMI effect. Most of the acts of the
legislature as recent as ten years ago
have been repealed and changed so
that they are not all what they were
in the beginning. 1t is apparently the
passion of. every legislator, for reasons
political or otherwise, to try to get
the entire regulation of the affairs Of
the citizen changed to suit his parti-
cular notions of political economy, anu
So he goes to- the capitol with bunch
of bills in his pocket and he begins
introducing them the first day of the
session and keeps hammering away
at them till he manages to get one or
two of them through. Then there is
the man in the legislature who does
not care how much legislation some of
the other parishes get so long as they
let him and his affairs alone. He lis
perfectly willing to vote for the other
mans bill if the other man will vote
for one of his bills and vote against
some bill for him. 1t was something
4, Df foi, oh Ia
the legislature of a state not very far
from Louisiana seriously debate for
four or five days and nights the pro-
position to incorporate a brass band
and make every member thereof e&-
onicio justice Of the peace. The gen.
tleman who proposed the measure,
when asked why he wanted to make
the horn blowers and the banner
bearers officers of the law, replied that
it was necessary to give them this
power in order to enable them to pro-
tect themselves against the populace,
which was in the habit of going early
to bed and which manifested a decided
objection of being walked up by brass
horn just as they were beginning to
get their first good sleep.
Bills just as foolish as this have
been proposed in other legislatures
and have served rather good purpose
in the eyes of the lawyers, in that they
consumed time which might have
been spent in a way much more in
furious to the interests of the state.
1t is a. fact that every legislature
passes more bills than it repeals. The
new laws cover hundreds of pages.
The lawyers have to try to familiarize
themselves with the most important
legislation. 1t is an absolute impossi-
bility to try to absorb all of the acts
of the Solons, because that is task
which would send man to an asylum
Ill