Saturday, October 05, 2013
Today -100: October 5, 1913: Of arson, car accidents, and darkness in Prussia
I guess the British suffragette militancy truce is over: the Women’s Social and Political Union’s Mary Richardson sets fire to an unoccupied house owned by the chancellor of the Diocese of London.
President Wilson’s car hits a kid on a bicycle. The Navy’s assistant surgeon, Wilson’s personal physician, was in the car, so the kid (his age isn’t given) got medical attention, and they drove him to the hospital. Wilson promised to replace his bike.
Headline of the Day -100 (LA Times): “Police Decide When It’s Dark.” “The mere fact that it may happen still to be daylight in defiance of police orders is of no importance.” That’s the ruling of the Prussian Supreme Court in the case of a wagon-owner who was driving without a lantern 30 minutes after sunset, which is when the Prussian police have decreed that it is dark even if it isn’t. Germans, huh?
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Not only in Germany. There is a legally-enforceable lighting-up time in the UK and has been since sometime in the 19thC. It's currently defined as 30 mins after sunset to 30 mins before sunrise. During that period, no lights and you're nicked, sonny. It must be our German monarchy's fault...
ReplyDeleteSame law as in California. But in this case, the law merely required a lamp after dark; the 30-minute thing was a police decision on how to implement that law. Two lower courts ruled that the police had no such power, but that actual conditions (ie, whether it was actually dark) should govern, but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the police.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter how much laws are made for the public safety, as long as people don't care about themselves and accept the laws, nothing can ever protect them from crimes, accidents and other things like thefts.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Arnold Brame