Can you imagine a bill banning kissing in front of a church? How about one to forbid eating more than three sandwiches at a funeral?
It may sound absurd, but laws such as these exist in every state, including Massachusetts, and remain unknown to the public because of their bizarre nature.
According to Tom Brophy, spokesman for Sen. Robert Creedon (D-Brockton), all citizens have the right to petition their legislature to file a bill, not matter how strange, on their behalf.
This year, the Commonwealth repealed laws that include the illegality of adultery, advertising, abortion or birth control, blasphemy and laws forbidding tramps and vagrants from begging and riding freight trains.
While several other laws, such as the criminalization of sodomy, have been found unconstitutional in recent years, they officially remain the law of the land. Sen. Cynthia Creem (D-Newton) said she has been a key advocate in repealing bans on archaic laws that have minimal bearing on society, such as blasphemy and adultery.
Creem’s legal counsel, Sean Kealy, said Creem’s involvement resulted from her realization that the state is constantly adding laws yet never taking any away.
“After 300 years, the books were full of these laws. It was time to take a close look at the values of these laws and see what needs to be reworked,” he said.
Creem also worked to put modern sentencing practices into place for laws that were drafted in the colonial period.
Brophy said these colonial laws are among the many that were deemed unconstitutional by the courts yet still remained on the books, without being enforced.
It was not until last spring when the state legislature voted to repeal the Indian Imprisonment Act of 1675 – a 330-year-old law banning Native Americans from entering Boston, which was passed after the King Phillips War.
The law had not been enforced for centuries but was repealed because it “[tarnished] the diverse and tolerant image of Boston,” according to a press release.
In 1994, the Massachusetts Legislature amended two “Blue Laws” which dated back to the Puritan days when Sunday was strictly the Christian Sabbath day of rest.
The Legislature lifted laws forbidding retail stores to not open until after 12 p.m. on Sundays, which allotted worshippers time for church, and a liquor ban that prohibited alcohol sales on Sundays. To date, the law still reads that liquor stores in five counties and those that are located within ten miles of the Vermont or New Hampshire borders are allowed to sell liquor on Sundays.
Laws have even been passed to declare the state donut, beverage and dessert (the Boston cream donut, cranberry juice and Boston cream pie); in fact, the state cookie, book and muffin were also all declared after schoolchildren petitioned for their recognition.
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey was named the official children’s book of the Commonwealth in 2003 after a third grade class at the Dean S. Luce Elementary School in Canton sponsored the legislation.
And of course, Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, is the children’s author and illustrator of the Commonwealth, named when Springfield residents went up in arms after fearing their hometown celebrity would be forgotten.
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