Boston Legal

While looking up the Massachusetts statute on "hoax devices," I ran across a few other amusing laws that are still on the books in the Bay State. I think that Boston Legal ought to do a show where a crusading prosecutor brings the lawyers of Crane Poole & Schmidt to justice for the crimes that they commit on a regular basis. For instance, there's a whole lot of this going on:

§ 18. Fornication.

Whoever commits fornication shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than three months or by a fine of not more than thirty dollars.

ALM GL ch. 272, § 18.

And I'm pretty sure there's some of this too (surely someone on that show is married, or seeing someone who's married):

§ 14. Adultery.

A married person who has sexual intercourse with a person not his spouse or an unmarried person who has sexual intercourse with a married person shall be guilty of adultery and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than three years or in jail for not more than two years or by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars.

ALM GL ch. 272, § 14.

Heck, it appears that under Chapter 272, § 26 of the Massachusetts General Laws, you can go to jail for up to a year for going to a bar with the intent to score.

But here's the one that they'd get Alan Shore with:

§ 36. Blasphemy.

Whoever wilfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, government or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching or exposing to contempt and ridicule, the holy word of God contained in the holy scriptures shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and may also be bound to good behavior.

ALM GL ch. 272, § 36

And they think Texas is backward because we still have the death penalty.