Legal Anachronisms

As professionals who rely on principles like stare decisis, lawyers instinctually turn to the past to analyze the issues of today and tomorrow. With so much of our work based on concepts developed decades and even centuries ago, and so much political will and coordination necessary to change statutes or rules of common law, some laws are bound to appear out of touch with today’s realities. Here are just a few examples of laws that have survived longer than the ideas and political movements that led to their development.