OA827: The Law of Halloween!
Added 2023-11-01 06:16:07 +0000 UTCIn an entirely Trump-free show, Liz and Andrew break down the law of Halloween! Is it illegal to be a witch? Do you have to disclose your house is haunted before selling it? Can you sue Satan? And much, much more!
This is an unpaid post on Patreon.
Notes
Charles West, Pope Leo of Bourges, Clerical Immunity and the Early Medieval Secular, in Early Medieval Europe (2021)
Constitutions of Clarendon, 1164
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/constcla.asp
Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684 (1975)
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1049931246973296361
Stambovsky v. Ackley
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3290684836490834623
Mayo v Satan
https://casetext.com/case/united-states-ex-rel-gerald-mayo-v-satan-and-his-staff
2016 US News article on Creepy Clown Sightings
Richard Ellis says he represented the seller
VA Beach 23-3
Forsyth, IL 94-155
Alabama can’t dress like clergy
https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/2020/title-13a/chapter-14/section-13a-14-4/
Hollywood silly string ordinance
https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2004/04-0772_ORD_176176_10-06-2004.pdf
Fortune-telling in SF
https://www.loweringthebar.net/2006/08/fortunetelling_.html
Fortune-telling New Orleans
OA 648
https://openargs.com/oa648-more-from-the-right-wing-war-on-free-speech/
Comments
On a similar note, I am in the market for (no not really) a lawyer to help me sue God. My house was (no not really) hit by lightning and burned to the ground. Since the People of the United States officially recognize the existence of God as a fact on their printed money (In God We Trust), and the classification of lightning as an Act of God is accepted by the courts (I'm certain there are precedents), the court must accept that God bears responsibility for the act which insurance won't cover, because God is responsible. I submit that in this circumstance, prayer should be sufficient to serve the defendant, although publication in a newspaper would serve decorum. As for jurisdiction, God's omnipresence makes this matter simple, since he resides everywhere. Even in your bathroom when you're... thinking. Enforcement may be problematic but at the very least I'd be satisfied with a standing warrant for God's arrest for Failure to Appear.
Fraud_fishy_loves_me
2023-11-04 03:50:22 +0000 UTCIf I sold a house whilst claiming it was haunted, and it was proven in court that it wasn't (tall order I know), could there be liability if someone bought it with the intention of running a haunted house business? Assuming the judge could keep a straight face long enough to render judgment?
Fraud_fishy_loves_me
2023-11-04 03:39:36 +0000 UTCI hear Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi" recently died. Can we blame Drumph for that too?
Dick Fritter
2023-11-03 15:00:54 +0000 UTCGood point! — L
Elizabeth Dye
2023-11-02 03:17:48 +0000 UTCFor what it’s worth, TFG’s bizarre soup rant led to one of the best TikTok videos :). https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8SeFndx/
Aaron Mischler
2023-11-02 03:10:57 +0000 UTCA Karen is definitely at the root of The L.A. Silly String Law.
Pixel Mountain (aka Rachel)
2023-11-01 22:15:31 +0000 UTCNot to mention that if the house is in a particularly superstitious area, you could have real trouble getting a good price when you want to leave.
Entropy Manor
2023-11-01 21:59:17 +0000 UTCI disagree with Liz on the haunted house lawsuit. Even though I don't believe in ghosts at all, if a property was advertised for decades as a haunted location that definitely needs to be disclosed. Ghost hunting is big business and many of them are very passionate (crazy?). I would want to know if people are going to show up at my house looking for spirits. Maybe they will break in looking for a thrill or make content for their show/Twitch/Youtube channel. When buying that property you have to know what level of annoyance you are going to have to deal with, or if you are more of an entrepreneur make some extra cash on the side from those passionate about ghosts (idiots?).
Matthew Harris
2023-11-01 21:53:22 +0000 UTCMy favorite thing about the “soup for my family” clip is the guy who answers Trump when he asks if a can of soup is worse than a brick. “That’s right, sir.” Firstly, it’s just weird to take it seriously, but more importantly it’s an actual “sir” rather than Trump’s habit of using sir to start some random made up story.
Tim Whatley
2023-11-01 20:55:23 +0000 UTCI had no idea there were any spooky laws lol
C’mon
2023-11-01 20:45:27 +0000 UTCDon Novello, aka father guido sarducci, also wrote the Laszlo Letters, a hilarious compendium of actual letters he wrote to public or semi-public figures, and their responses. You could look it up.
Lawrence Frank
2023-11-01 13:25:14 +0000 UTCMy ancestor John Gibbons was on the Margaret Mattson jury, and the family tradition has always been that he was the one who framed the wording of the verdict, that she was guilty of having the common fame of a witch, but not of actually being one.
Ann Sharp
2023-11-01 09:04:38 +0000 UTC
