An unenforced law (also symbolic law) is a crime which is illegal, but is usually not penalized by a jurisdiction. It is a law which is usually ignored by law enforcement, therefore such laws have no consequences.[1] Some people have criticized such laws claiming that it indicates sometimes the law means what it says, sometimes it does not.[2]
Overview
The law may be put in place simply for symbolic reasons, but without actual prosecutions taking place.[3] For example speeding is illegal, but patrol officers usually ignore motorists who are 5–10 miles an hour over the legal limit.[4] Automated ticketing systems like computerized cameras will still issue fines in these circumstances in some, but not all U.S. states.[5]
Although incest is illegal in many European countries, it is generally not enforced if between two consenting adults.[6]
Laws that are symbolic typically attempt to persuade rather than enforce, punish or prevent.[7][8] An example was adultery in the US state of Colorado, where it was prohibited by law (since repealed), but was not punishable in any way.[4] In Maryland adultery is prohibited by law with just a $10 fine, but not punishable by imprisonment.
| This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Metasyntactic variable, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. |