Michigan May Purge Laws Making Cursing Illegal and Other Archaic Codes

A law that required only service dogs wear orange collars is among those members of the Michigan House of Representatives want to repeal.

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Michiganders, in a couple of weeks, you may be able to drop that bomb that hurts your mother’s ears without being fined. And put an orange collar on your dog if you’re not hearing impaired. And refuse a duel or promote an endurance contest. And play only a portion of the National Anthem, not the full four verses.

And …

The list of archaic and redundant laws Republicans in the Michigan House of Representatives want to repeal includes several that were once relevant, but no longer have a modern-day context, the Detroit Free Press reports.

The House Judiciary Committee began hearing testimony on a package of bills that would weed out archaic laws from the state’s 3,000 criminal statutes, but proposals won’t come up for a vote until after lawmakers return from a two-week spring recess on April 14.

The review stems from complaints that Michigan has too many laws.

“There was a Senate task force in 1999 that looked at this, and since then scores of new laws have been passed,” said state Rep. Chris Afendoulis, R-Grand Rapids Township. “And there have been 45 new criminal statutes passed each year in the last five years. Michigan’s penal code has been widely criticized as the most expansive in the region.”

Laws that could be repealed include:

• Only deaf or hearing-impaired people may put orange collars or leashes on their dogs in public places under a 1981 law that carries a $10 fine. This law would be repealed by House Bill 4247.

• A law passed in 2002 and punishable by a $750 fine prohibits using “reproachful” language in print against anyone who refuses to fight a duel. This law would be repealed by House Bill 4248.

• A 1998 law, infamously enforced in Brighton last year, prohibits indecent, immoral, obscene, vulgar or insulting language in the presence or hearing of a woman or child. Violations are punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine. The law also was enforced in 1998 in which a canoeist let loose a string of profanities after his canoe capsized. The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled the speech was protected. This law would also be repealed by House Bill 4248.

Related:

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• A law that prohibits singing or playing the National Anthem in public places unless the entire composition is played. Violation of that law is punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine. This law would also be repealed by House Bill 4248.

• Participating, sponsoring or promoting endurance contests, except those that begin or end in the same day or may be completed within 12 hours. Violators faced fines of up to $100 or 90 days in jail. This law would be repealed by House Bill 4250.

• Statutes that prohibit trespassing on private property to steal cranberry vines, blackberries or huckleberries, fruits or vegetables – punishable by up to a $500 fine or 90 days in jail – would be repealed because such offenses are covered in more recent trespassing an larceny laws. These laws would be repealed by House Bill 4249.

• A prohibition on selling baby chicks, rabbits, ducklings or other fowl or game that have been dyed, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine. This law would be repealed by House Bill 4251.

Afendoulis said some of the laws go back 150 years.

“Some of these laws may seem outdated at the (current) time, but the Legislature did pass these laws and the governor did sign them, and some of these issues go back 150 years,” he said. “... The fact that those things did occur tell you at one time these were serious matters.”