MY BELOVED OCCASIONAL COMMONWEALTH: In various research projects over the past few months, I've come across two gems in the Massachusetts General Laws:
- Mass. Gen. Laws. ch. 89, § 3: "No person shall travel on a way with a sleigh or sled drawn by a horse, unless there are at least three bells attached to some part of the harness."
- Mass. Gen. Laws. ch. 272, § 33: "Whoever exhibits for hire an albino person, a minor or mentally ill person who is deformed or a person who has an appearance of deformity produced by artificial means shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars."
[I discussed the latter with a libertarian lawprof at UCLA who shall remain nameless; he agreed that this was unconstitutional as to albinos, but constitutional as to minors or the mentally ill on the grounds of consent, which raises the question of whether we'll ever see a
Little People, Big World prosecution.] And
this is still on the books: "Whoever wilfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, government or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching or exposing to contempt and ridicule, the holy word of God contained in the holy scriptures shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and may also be bound to good behavior."
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