Tim May wrote:
At 8:37 PM -0400 9/26/00, Steve Furlong wrote:
"A. Melon" wrote:
Michigans Anti-Cussing Law Called Into Question
<<A Michigan boor swore at and made sexually suggestive gestures to a woman after she asked him not to swear near a small child. He might be charged under MI's anti-swearing law or under disturbing the peace.>>
This doesn't sound like the peace and safety of the community is being threatened. Why doesn't the offended woman file a civil claim, if she was that offended? I don't know Michigan law, but the offence should fit within the common law "intentional infliction of mental distress" and "nuisance" torts.
(I can't believe I wrote that. Two weeks in law school and I'm already warped.)
Yep, you've already reached the point of being a waste of skin.
Perhaps you'll be leading the prosecution of a thought criminal in court when your particular building is mcveighed.
"File a civil claim," indeed. You should be shot dead.
<grin> In the year or so I've been posting on c-punks, you have several times mentioned that I had a good point but not once had you suggested that I should be killed. I was starting to feel left out. I do not think the woman should be filing suit. She should have ignored the boor or, if her command of invective sufficed, told him off scathingly. I do, however, support the right of people to take matters to civil court if they truly feel they have been wronged. I'd prefer to see a loser-pays system to prevent or compensate for frivolous claims, as this claim would be likely to prove. The _main_ point I wanted to make was that the state had no business interfering here. The anti-swearing law is nonsensical, unenforceable, and almost definitely unConstitutional. Disturbing the peace charges, if they should exist at all, should be reserved for matters of greater import than making a rude gesture at one woman. I concede that my previous post didn't make my point well, if at all. Regards, SRF -- Steve Furlong, Computer Condottiere Have GNU, will travel 518-374-4720 sfurlong@acmenet.net