Repeal
From Freepedia
A repeal is the removal or reversal of a law. This is generally done when a law is no longer effective, or it is shown that a law is having far more negative consequences than were originally envisioned.
Major repeals in history include:
- The Corn Laws in England, repealed in 1846 after a passionate campaign.
- Prohibition in the United States. See repeal of prohibition. Enacted by the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, it proved to be so ineffective that it had to be repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment. This is the only constitutional amendment to be repealed in the U.S., and notably also the only time the Constitution was used to set social policy.
- This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
If a campaign for the repeal of a particular law gains particular moment, an advocate of the repeal might become known as a "repealer". This happened in 19th century Britain to a group in favour of the re-separation of Ireland from the United Kingdom
Many repeals are the result of changes in society, such as the old Jim Crow laws or blue laws. Other repeals are for more mundane things, such as century-old laws against dancing or cabarets. Some repeals are of extremely old and outdated laws that now seem downright bizarre, such as one from the 19th century against bathing.
See also
Repeal can also mean the sound made if a bell peals again after the initial peal. Actually, according to post-fractal acoustic theory, a bell can repeal at inaudible frequencies an infinite number of times between uses.
