Maine’s Quirky Laws Targeted for Repeal

PORTLAND, Maine — Maine lawmakers are wondering if the time has come to do away with the $100 fine for ridiculing someone who refuses to fight a duel.

It is not that they want people to settle disputes of honor with guns; they just think it is among a series of unneeded statutes because of changing mores and technology.

“We just have not had a lot of those [duels] lately and there isn’t a lot of sense in having it on the books,” said Rep. Charles LaVerdiere, one of a group of lawmakers who have been scouring the lawbooks for obsolete laws.

“Basically, what we’re looking for are laws that have outlived their usefulness,” said LaVerdiere, who admits most of the archaic ones uncovered are rather mundane--traffic laws for the horse-and-buggy era.

Maine adopted its first anti-dueling laws in 1820 when it separated from Massachusetts to become its own state. The measures authorized a $1,000 fine to challenge someone to a duel or accept such a challenge.

The anti-ridicule law was added in apparent in response to the 1838 death of Maine U.S. Rep. Jonathan Cilley, who became the last member of the U.S. House to die in a duel when he shot it out with Rep. William Graves of Kentucky.

Cilley, a Democrat with a reputation for fiery speeches, was challenged by Graves, a Whig, who apparently took personal insult to comments Cilley made about the Whig Party in an address on the House floor.

The two reportedly missed each other with the first two shots and Cilley had to be talked into a third round. Congress declared a national mourning period for Cilley but declined to punish Graves.

Among the other laws under scrutiny is one that requires sheriffs to give a Bible to every prisoner while another makes it illegal to tow logs with a steamboat. A third law orders private schools to teach children to be kind to birds.

Officials said that although many of the laws may seem harmlessly funny by today’s standards, there is a serious reason to get archaic statutes off the books.

“These ancient laws can sometimes be dangerous because they are sometimes used for things they were never intended for,” said Kevin Matson, a legislative official who has been working with the lawmakers.

In the 1980s, landowners in Wells used a Colonial-era law to limit use of a popular beach outside their homes. That Puritan-inspired measure said such areas could only be used for fishing and bird hunting.

All of the lawmakers’ recommendations for eliminating outdated laws will have to be approved by the Legislature, and officials promise to keep any measures that might still serve a legal purpose.

“If there’s a question of looking at a law and someone saying, ‘Well, now, I can see an applicability,’ it would never be touched,” Matson said.

The Legislature undertook a similar legal housecleaning in 1975. Among the laws eliminated at that time was a measure making it illegal to carry an unsheathed scythe while riding a horse on a public way.