Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
User Journal

Journal johndiii's Journal: NOT! Oops 7

Journal by johndiii

A typo in an Arkansas law intended to establish marriageable age has had some interesting consequences. Due to a judge's decision that the commission empowered to correct typos in legislation overstepped its authority in removing "not" from the law, anyone under the age of eighteen in Arkansas is free to marry - as long as they are not pregnant.

I'm not sure exactly what the judge was thinking in this case. The intent of the law seems fairly clear to me, and the code review commission is supposed to correct exactly this sort of thing. The idea is that legislatures are not supposed to be bound by typos in the laws that they pass. In this case, it would take a rather obtuse individual to argue that the intent was to allow three-year-olds to marry.

This discussion was created by johndiii (229824) for no Foes, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

NOT! Oops More

NOT! Oops

Comments Filter:
  • That under English Common Law, the best way to get a bad law changed is to enforce it to an absurd end. That's probably what this judge is doing.
  • Sounds like the Judge doesn't want to set a precedent granting them the power to completely reverse the meaning of a properly passed law at will. I rather agree.
    • If that were the case, I could understand it better. But the main part of the law establishes the minimum age of consent for marriage at eighteen. The section with the spurious "not" is to establish an exception to that. Since the version with the "not" contradicts the main part of the bill (in that it states that the limit applies only where there is pregnancy involved), this is more a case of resolving a conflict within the law, than reversing its meaning.

      It's appropriate that the commission be subject
  • After all, they're not preggers, unlike GWB's daughter.

  • It's in Arkansas. Obviously they wanted to allow under-18s to marry.

    "If you go to a family reunion to meet girls, you might be a redneck."
    "If you've been married three times and still have the same in-laws, you might be a redneck."
    etc. etc. etc.

    Cheers,

    Ethelred

Slashdot Top Deals

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them WHAT to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. -- Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.

Close