BDN reports that “Sen. Ron Collins R-Wells has introduced a bill, LD 64, that would make not wearing a seat belt no longer a primary offense. He is seeking to change a 3-year-old state law that allows police officers to stop and ticket motorists for failing to buckle up.” The bill “would revert Maine to the days when drivers and passengers could receive a ticket for failing to wear a seat belt only after police pulled the vehicle over for another offense. Maine lawmakers voted in the spring of 2007 to make failing to wear a seat belt a “primary offense” — the legal term for a violation that allows police to stop a vehicle, “fines ranging from $50 to $250.”
“Figures supplied by the Maine Department of Public Safety showed that the number of citations issued:”
“In 2007, officers issued 8,062 seat belt citations. That figure jumped to 18,273 in 2008, even though officers did not begin issuing tickets until April 1 of that year. The number of citations issued fell to 15,002 in 2009 and 12,654 in 2010, according to figures supplied by the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety.”
How did this “primary violation” law get past Constitutional review?
The current law is in place to generate revenue. Taxation by citation?
Senator Collins should be working to repeal the seat belt law completely, rather than just changing the status of not wearing a belt from a primary to a secondary offense. It’s a personal choice whether to buckle up or not.
“This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof;… shall be the supreme law of the land;….. The Senators and Representatives and members of the State legislature, and all executive and judicial officers of the United States and the several States, shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.” The Constitution of the united States of America, Article VI, Cl 2, 3.
All government officials and agencies, including all State legislatures, are bound by the Constitution and must not create any defacto laws which counter the Constitution. Any laws created by government which are repugnant to the Constitution carry no force of law and are void:
“The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void and ineffective for any purpose, since its unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment… In legal contemplation, it is as inoperative as if it had never been passed… Since an unconstitutional law is void, the general principles follow that it imposes no duties, confers no right, creates no office, bestows no power or authority on anyone, affords no protection and justifies no acts performed under it… A void act cannot be legally consistent with a valid one. An unconstitutional law cannot operate to supersede any existing law. Indeed insofar as a statute runs counter to the fundamental law of the land, it is superseded thereby. No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it.” Bonnett v. Vallier, 116 N.W. 885, 136 Wis. 193 (1908); NORTON v. SHELBY COUNTY, 118 U.S. 425 (1886). See also Bonnett v Vallier, 136 Wis 193, 200; 116 NW 885, 887 (1908); State ex rel Ballard v Goodland, 159 Wis 393, 395; 150 NW 488, 489 (1915); State ex rel Kleist v Donald, 164 Wis 545, 552-553; 160 NW 1067, 1070 (1917); State ex rel Martin v Zimmerman, 233 Wis 16, 21; 288 NW 454, 457 (1939); State ex rel Commissioners of Public Lands v Anderson, 56 Wis 2d 666, 672; 203 NW2d 84, 87 (1973); and Butzlaffer v Van Der Geest & Sons, Inc, Wis, 115 Wis 2d 539; 340 NW2d 742, 744-745 (1983).
All statutes must be governed by rules and regulations. What are the rules and regulations that govern any seatbelt law? If lawmakers cannot provide the rules and regulations, any law passed will be null and void.
Bar Association History
Constitution of the united States with original 13th.
Has anyone researched the who and why of the “disappearance” of the 13th Amendment from the constitution?