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“It’s the Law” in a Mixed-up World

A man in Wales did not have to pay for over 60 parking tickets amounting to almost $900 (U.S.), because the car was registered in the name of his six-year-old son, Jonathan. The Road Traffic Act says that only the registered owner is liable for parking violations, and also presumes that no child under 10 years of age can be guilty of any offense. Case dismissed!

A Florida bank robber sued the arresting officers for return of his loot. A technical error in writing up the case against the robber caused the judge to throw it out rather than retry him, since he was already in jail for other crimes. The lawbook-reading robber found that the money could not be taken from an “innocent” man, and sued for its return. In the meantime, the loot had been returned to the bank. A judge ordered the officers to answer the suit. “Technically, according to the FBI,” says the Associated Press report, “the two policemen would have to pay the money out of their own pockets.”

An Italian court ruled that a motorist who injured a prostitute in an auto accident must pay her $4,800 (U.S.). The 48-year-old woman lost 70 days of “work,” and, according to doctors, her “professional capacity” was reduced by 15 percent.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently reversed the convictions of nine persons accused of “racketeering.” The accused appealed on the grounds that the law was designed to stop infiltration of legitimate businesses by racketeers. They said that they “merely” committed racketeering offenses apart from legitimate businesses and therefore did not come under the law. The court agreed!

A New York Supreme Court justice ruled against an insurance company, saying that it must pay for a man’s sex-change operation. The judge made the ruling even though a doctor filed an affidavit with the court stating that “when you operate on this type of patient you have not cured their ‘disease,’ rather you have responded to their demand that their body be altered to conform to their wishes. The disturbance in function is in the brain.” The judge asserted that the doctor lacked expertise on transsexualism.

Similarly, a U.S. district judge in Iowa awarded $3,500 in medical bills and damages to be paid by the government medicaid program for another sex-change operation. Medicaid officials had contended that such operations are cosmetic surgery not covered by their program. Interestingly, Baltimore’s prestigious Johns Hopkins University Hospital recently stopped doing sex-change operations because follow-up studies found that so-called “transsexuals” are as well or better off without the surgery.

A new criminal code in New Jersey requires that authorities notify a thief of his victim’s claim to stolen property and gives him 10 days to challenge that claim. Property immediately needed by victims such as stolen cars, credentials, keys, purses and other items that formerly were returned at once is now held at least 10 days and perhaps much longer if the suspect challenges the victim’s claim.

Such examples of the law’s capriciousness often seem to bear out this observation in the “Boston Globe”: “Society as a whole has adopted the judicial process as its moral yardstick and forfeited common sense and personal responsibility. Legal is not necessarily synonymous with good.” Of course, rule of law is necessary, but, as with all man’s endeavors, the human element seems to find a way to distort it.