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Doctrine

Desuetude

Constitutional, Administrative and Public Law Doctrine

In law, desuetude is a doctrine that causes statutes, similar legislation or legal principles to lapse and become unenforceable through a long habit of non-enforcement or lapse of time; it is what happens to laws that are not repealed once they become obsolete. It is the legal doctrine holding that long and continued non-use of a law renders it invalid, at least in the sense that courts will no longer tolerate punishing its transgressors. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Core Principle
Long and continued non-use of a law renders it invalid, so courts no longer tolerate punishing its transgressors. 1
Sources
1. Desuetude (Wikipedia)
  • Introduction
    long and continued non-use of a law renders it invalid, at least in the sense that courts will no longer tolerate punishing its transgressors.
  • In Group: Statutory Interpretation and Legislative Process Rules, Introduction, sentence 1
    In law, desuetude (; from French désuétude, from Latin desuetudo 'outdated, no longer custom') is a doctrine that causes statutes, similar legislation, or legal principles to lapse and become unenforceable by a long habit of non-enforcement or lapse of time.
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